What Aston Villa can expect from Lille and how Unai Emery can mastermind win
Aston Villa put their battle for a top four finish in the Premier League on hold this Thursday night.
Unai Emery‘s side travel to France to take on Lille in the first leg of their Round-of-16 Europa League tie, with the second leg scheduled to take place at Villa Park on 19 March.
Aston Villa enter the game having lost three of their last four in all competitions, with back-to-back humbling defeats at the hands of Wolves and Chelsea respectively.
Meanwhile, Lille are in much stronger form than the Villans, having won three of their last four in all competitions, but were held to a 1-1 draw with Lorient in Ligue 1 last time out.
What can Aston Villa expect from Lille on Thursday night?
Currently sitting sixth in Ligue 1, Lille have been in a relative stagnation since winning the French top flight in 2020-21.
They’ve finished 10th, fifth, fourth and fifth since winning Ligue 1, and Bruno Genesio’s side have had issues remaining consistent so far this season.
12 wins, five draws and eight defeats from 25 league games speak to that sentiment, but make no mistake, this isn’t going to be an easy two-legged tie for Aston Villa whatsoever.
As per Sofascore, Lille have scored 35 of their 38 league goals from inside the box this season, and so that’s clearly one key to a Villa win: force them into limited opportunities to put the ball into this area.
One weakness of Lille’s side is their lack of aerial threat, having scored just four headed goals in 2025-26 so far, with 16 goals coming from left-footed strikes and 18 with the right respectively.
Villa can also expect a physical two-legged tie, as Lille average 2.1 yellow cards per game in Ligue 1 and have been shown five red cards this season, so matching this is going to be another key to the game for Emery’s side.
Genesio’s men also like to control proceedings, averaging 55.8 per cent possession this term, but with Villa also a possession-oriented side, it will be fascinating to see how these two managers approach this from a tactical standpoint.
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Who are Lille’s main dangers to watch for Villa?
Lille have struggled in attack this season, with no player registering more than five goals for them so far this season.
However, Villa fans will be very familiar with a certain Olivier Giroud, who is still turning out for Lille at 39-years old, and he is one of the three players on five goals this season.
Perhaps Lille’s most exciting player and best young talent is 22-year-old Hakon Arnar Haraldsson, with the versatile attacking midfielder contributing six goals and five assists in all competitions this term.
Winger Matias Fernandez-Pardo is another contender for that title though, with the 21-year-old scoring four and assisting four in all competitions, whilst veteran central midfielder Benjamin Andre pulls the strings in the middle.
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