After indifferent home form this calendar year, Aston Villa's Champions League charge had gone off the rails a little. Conceding cheap goals was undermining a lot of good work. The recent 3-3 draw against Brentford in the league and then conceding a late goal in the 2-1 Europa Conference League win over Lille, was testament to that.
With poor results for English teams in Europe last week, the prospect of fifth being enough in the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League was under threat, as the English team coefficient rating suffered. The stench of Europa League was in the air for Villa. There was also a sense that if they failed to do the business in Lille in the Europa Conference League 2nd leg, Villa's season might fold in on itself.
However, a weekend that served up both Villa's best away performance of the season at Arsenal and a cracking Newcastle display against Spurs, saw Villa rise to fourth spot and suddenly feel a lot more confident about their trip to France this week.
Villa's destiny now is very much in their own hands.
UTV
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David Michael - @myoldmansaid
Chris Budd - @BUDD_music
Phillip Shaw - @prsgame
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