16 teams remain in the UEFA Europa Conference League, with two of the tournament’s strongest sides set to battle it out for a place in the quarter-finals.
On Thursday, Dutch powerhouse Ajax welcome Premier League outfit Aston Villa to Amsterdam for the first leg of their last-16 showdown.
This preview contains stats, trends and predictions. So, read on to discover what Forebet’s predictive analytics model expects for Thursday’s clash.
'I've settled in really well' 🙂@JHenderson about his time at Ajax so far... #UECL #ajaavl— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) March 6, 2024
'I've settled in really well' 🙂@JHenderson about his time at Ajax so far... #UECL #ajaavl
Ajax secured a dominant 2-0 win against FC Utrecht on Sunday, racking up 60% possession and 14 shots on their way to victory.
Still, the fallen giants find themselves fifth in the Eredivisie – 17 points outside the top two and 27 points behind table-topping PSV Eindhoven – having endured a below-par campaign up to now.
Ajax dropped into the Europa Conference League after finishing third in their Europa League group, winning only one of the six UEL matches earlier in the season.
In the play-off round last month, the Dutch outfit edged past Bodo/Glimt with a 4-3 aggregate victory, underlining their struggles this term.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa claimed a 3-2 victory over Luton Town last weekend, extending their winning streak to three matches.
The Villains have now avoided defeat in each of their last six away games across all competitions, with a solitary loss coming in their previous 11 on the road.
After thrashing Hibernian 8-0 on aggregate to qualify for the Conference League, Unai Emery’s men lost just one of their six group games, picking up four wins along the way.
In four European away games this season, Aston Villa have scored a whopping 12 goals, meaning they average three goals per game on their travels.
Head-to-head: The only previous meeting between these two clubs came during the 2008-09 season, when they faced each other in the UEFA Cup.
Aston Villa claimed a 2-1 home victory over Ajax on that occasion, with a young Luis Suarez starting in attack for the visitors.
Team news: Ajax’s injury list contains Gaston Avila, Steven Berghuis, Steven Bergwijn, Amourricho van Axel Dongen and Josip Sutalo.
Aston Villa also have several injury absentees, with Boubacar Kamara, Emi Buendia, Tyrone Mings, Diego Carlos, Jhon Duran and Jacob Ramsey all set to miss the first leg.
While Ajax have struggled for a rhythm throughout the campaign, Aston Villa have remained consistent across all competitions.
With that in mind, Forebet predicts that Aston Villa will score over 1.5 goals on their way to notching a first-leg lead in Amsterdam.