Why Matty Cash holds the key to Aston Villa victory as Viking test awaits
Unai Emery will ask a lot of Matty Cash in Aston Villa's Champions League clash against Viking.
The Villains welcome the Norwegian champions to Villa Park on Wednesday night in an 8pm kick-off.
Morten Jensen's side are currently joint-top of the Eliteserien after 23 games, and recently took a huge Champions League scalp.
Last Tuesday saw them earn a 3-3 draw on home soil with Bayern Munich, in one of Viking's most famous nights in their history.
With Aaron Wan-Bissaka injured, Cash looks nailed on to start at right-back for the Villains.
If so, that will see him go up against one of European football's most deadly left-sided forwards.
Why Zlatko Tripic is set to give Matty Cash a long night
Age is purely a number, and for some players, class remains permanent throughout their career.
That is absolutely the case when it comes to Viking's number 10, Zlatko Tripic.
The 33-year-old has been with the Norwegian outfit since 2021, after having previously spent time with them between 2018 to 2020.
Since then, he's scored just the 63 goals and provided 71 assists in 178 total appearances, and 2026 has seen him playing some of his best football yet.
Viking typically play in a 4-3-3 with Tripic, the captain, on the left, and he's scored 10 goals and registered 21 assists in 27 games this season.
Per FotMob, Tripic leads all Eliteserien players in his position for assists (19), accurate long balls (82), chances created (93) and successful crosses (109).
The same can be said for his 27 big chances created, 1,550 touches, 42 fouls won, 88 recoveries and five blocked shots - he's absolutely everywhere for Viking.
But, did Cash's most recent display against Newcastle suggest he's in a good place to handle Tripic?
How many fouls did Cash concede vs Newcastle?
As aforementioned, Wan-Bissaka is now set for a period of time on the sidelines.
He and Cash have been jostling for the starting right-back role this season, but now the Polish international has a golden chance to cement it for good.
The 29-year-old played the full 90 minutes in the 1-0 away win at Newcastle on Saturday, but his numbers from it won't strike fear into Tripic.
Per FotMob, Cash won three tackles, with John McGinn (four), Boubacar Kamara (five) and Emi Buendia (six) all winning more.
He also made just the one block, five clearances, one interception and two recoveries, but it's the number of fouls he gave away which spells Tripic-related danger.
As previously outlined, the Viking forward is elite at drawing fouls, and Cash gave away three against the Magpies, with only Kamara (four) conceding more.
Cash won three of his six ground duels too, and so if he's to mark Tripic out of the game, those numbers are going to have to be far better on Wednesday.