Aston Villa vs Salzburg: line-ups, stats and preview

Aston Villa vs Salzburg Match Preview

Villa Aston can afford to make changes for tomorrow night's Europa League clash with Salzburg having already secured their place in the round of 16 without needing to make the playoffs next month.

Unai Emery's men reflected their impressive Premier League form in Europe's second-tier competition and currently occupy second place in the table behind Lyon having won six of their seven matches.

Only Villa and the Ligue 1 side are guaranteed to finish in the top eight going into the final day.

A match without danger – or travel – allowed Villa to focus on transfer matters in the final days of the January transfer window. Tammy Abraham has completed his return to Villa Park from Besiktas while another former Villa hero, Douglas Luiz, is reportedly set to join Juventus, with the Turin club set to end his current loan deal at Nottingham Forest.

Neither man will be available tomorrow night but, should the deal for Luiz go through, both would be in contention for the weekend's clash with Brentford.

Unlike Villa, Salzburg has something to play for.

The Austrian team will start the evening in 28th place and will need to make up a two-point deficit if they want to have a chance at securing a playoff spot awarded to the top 24 teams.

Their hopes were boosted by last week's 3-1 defeat to Basel in what was their first competitive match since December with the domestic championship on winter break.

Head coach Thomas Letsch said: “The victory against Basel was extremely important for us. Now we have at least a theoretical chance to achieve something with a victory against the second-placed team in the Europa League and the third-placed team in the Premier League. We also know that we need help from other teams and that nine points may not be enough.”

Team news for Aston Villa vs Salzburg

Villa have numerous injury problems, particularly in midfield, with Youri Tielemans joining John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara on the sidelines.

Lamare Bogarde and Amadou Onana should form the duo in the center of the park.

The departure of Donyell Malen means Ollie Watkins is the only senior forward available.

Salzburg will be without Takumu Kawamura, John Mellberg and Valentin Sulzbacher. Yorbe Vertessen is a doubt.

Predicted line-ups for Aston Villa vs Salzburg

Aston Villa: Bizot; Cash, Lindelof, Mings, Digne; Bogarde, Onana, Hemmings; Guess, Sancho; Watkins

Salzburg: Schlager; Trummer, Gadou, Schuster, Kratzig; Kitano, Diabaté, Bidstrup; Baidoo, Ratkov, Alajbegovic

How to watch Aston Villa vs Salzburg

Aston Villa v Salzburg kicks off tomorrow evening at 8pm UK time. It airs on TNT Sports in the UK and can be streamed via the Discovery+ app.

To look elsewhere in the world, click HERE to find your local rights holder.

Statistics for Aston Villa v Salzburg

• Aston Villa and Salzburg have never met before
• Salzburg are winless in their previous eight European meetings against English teams (D2 L6)
• Including qualifying, Aston Villa have won 14 of their last 16 home matches in European competition