Olympiacos vs Aston Villa: Preview, predictions and lineups

Aston Villa have a mountain to climb this Thursday when they travel to Olympiacos in the second leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final.

The 1982 European champions find themselves 4-2 down from the first leg at Villa Park, with a Ayoub El Kaabi hat-trick guiding the Greek side to victory. Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby did get on the scoresheet, but a late penalty miss from Douglas Luiz means the odds are stacked against Unai Emery’s side for the second leg.

Villa also stumbled in their pursuit of Champions League qualification last Sunday, losing 1-0 away at Brighton. Fortunately for the Villans, Tottenham also tasted defeat at Liverpool, meaning they now need just three more points from their final two matches to guarantee a top-four place.

Olympiacos are still fighting for the Greek Super League title themselves and have enjoyed a week’s rest ahead of Villa’s visit.

Here’s 90min’s guide to Olympiacos vs Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League.

Olympiacos vs Aston Villa H2H Record (all-time)Current form (all competitions)Olympiacos

Aston Villa

Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiacos – 02/05/24

Brighton 1-0 Aston Villa – 05/05/24

Olympiacos 4-1 Lamia – 28/04/24

Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiacos – 02/05/24

Aris Thessaloniki 1-1 Olympiacos – 24/04/24

Aston Villa 2-2 Chelsea – 27/04/24

Olympiacos 2-1 PAOK – 21/04/24

Aston Villa 3-1 Bournemouth – 21/04/24

Fenerbahce 1-0 Olympiacos (2-3 on pens) – 18/04/24

Lille 2-1 Aston Villa (3-4 on pens) – 18/04/24

Country

TV channel / live stream

United Kingdom

TNT Sports 1, discovery+, discovery+ App

United States

Paramount+, ViX

Canada

DAZN

Jovetic is unavailable / Alex Pantling/GettyImages

Olympiacos are without a number of players for Aston Villa’s visit, including former Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic. Doron Leidner and Andreas-Richardos Ntoi are also missing for the Greek side, while Ruben Vezo, Nelson Abbey and winger Gelson Martins are all ineligible to play.

Andreas Ndoj and Georgios Masouras will return from suspension, but they may not feature from the start against Villa.

Olympiacos predicted lineup vs Aston Villa (4-3-2-1): Tzolakis; Rodinei, Retsos, Carmo, Richards; Hezze, Iborra, Chiquinho; Fortounis, Podence; El Kaabi.

Martinez missed the first leg through suspension / Richard Heathcote/GettyImages

Aston Villa’s extensive injury list and busy schedule has started to catch up with them in recent weeks, with Emery missing some key contributors.

The quartet of Boubacar Kamara, Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Jacob Ramsey are all out for the remainder of the season, while January recruit Morgan Rogers may well be unavailable for Thursday’s encounter.

Both Nicolo Zaniolo and Youri Tielemans have a good chance of being involved in Piraeus, while Emiliano Martinez, who missed the first leg through suspension and injury, could return from a hamstring concern that also kept him out of the weekend defeat to Brighton.

Aston Villa predicted lineup vs Olympiacos (4-4-2): Martinez; Cash, Carlos, Konsa, Moreno; Bailey, Luiz, McGinn, Zaniolo; Diaby, Watkins.

While Aston Villa have been mightily impressive domestically and in Europe this season, they will find it incredibly tough to overturn a two-goal deficit in Greece on Thursday. They are beginning to run out of energy at the climax of a hectic season and their tired legs may be exposed.

Olympiacos have been in strong form of late and have enjoyed a week of rest between the two legs. That extra time away from the pitch may do them the world of good this week.

Prediction: Olympiacos 2-2 Aston Villa (6-4 on aggregate)READ THE LATEST NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS AND MATCH REACTION