Match Preview: Aston Villa v CSKA Moscow

Aston Villa v CSKA Moscow
UEFA Cup Round of 32, First Leg
Villa Park
Wednesday 18th February 2009, 7.00pm

Pic: Russia Offside

The UEFA Cup rolls into Villa Park for the first time in 2009 with the visit of Zico’s CSKA Moscow for the first leg in the round of 32. It’s a seriously tough draw for Villa, particularly when you consider the requirement to go away in the second leg. Get ready for the biggest European night at Villa for years.

Team News

Emile Heskey’s achilles injury should pave the way for a start for John Carew for Villa, but Curtis Davies has been passed fit. Stand-in skipper Gareth Barry will lead the midfield after missing Sunday’s match at Everton through injury.

Obviously Villa will put out the strongest possible line-up. In my estimation that is: Friedel, Gardner, Davies, Knight, L.Young, Milner, Petrov, Barry, A.Young, Agbonlahor, Carew.

2005 UEFA Cup winners CSKA will be without Anton Grigoriev and Deividas Semberas, who are suspended. Daniel Carvalho has returned from Brazil (loan) and could feature.

Why CSKA at home is a must-win

Martin O’Neill doesn’t think winning the first leg is essential. I do. Going away to Russia is a tough job at the best of times, but having a lead would make success a much stronger possibility. We’ll be playing on a plastic pitch against a very, very good side. We need to kill this one off tomorrow night.

If we were to do that, it’d be a hell of an achievement. That said, I stated in December that I fancy us against anyone currently in the UEFA Cup. That holds true.

Betting

The official Villa Offside prediction is…2-1 Villa.

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Category: Match Previews

Tags: CSKA Moscow, Match Previews, UEFA Cup

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