Match Preview: Hamburger SV v VILLA

By: Chris | December 16th, 2008

Hamburger SV v Aston Villa
UEFA Cup Group Stage
HSH Nordbank Arena
Wednesday 17th December 2008, 7.45pm

UEFA Cup Group F comes to a head tomorrow evening with plenty still to play for. Aston Villa travel to Hamburg on matchday four, facing off against Martin Jol’s Hamburger SV side. Both sides, along with Ajax, have sealed qualification for the next phase – but where they finish in the top three is yet to be decided. Ajax host Slavia Praha in Amsterdam.

Team News

The Aston Villa team against Hamburg very much depends on how Martin O’Neill sees the game, which is probably different to the rest of us. If he desires a group-winning performance, we’ll see a fairly strong team in Germany. If not, there will be plenty of changes.

Either way, I would expect to see Brad Guzan start and Nathan Delfouneso get an appearance after his superb goal in the last UEFA Cup game. Apart from that, I wouldn’t want to hazard a guess.

The same goes for Martin Jol’s Hamburg. They’re fourth in the Bundesliga, so it’s safe to say they’ve got other concerns in much the same way as the Villa. If Jol goes for a full strength team, Hamburg have some excellent players to choose from. Names most familiar to English fans will be Ivica Olic and Mladen Petric of Croatia, and Piotr Trochowski of Germany. Trochowski broke Welsh hearts with his first international goal in October.

Why Hamburg away is a must-win

“Group winners will be paired with third-placed sides from other UEFA Cup sections, while second-placed finishers will be drawn against one of the eight sides who finished third in the UEFA Champions League groups. The UEFA Cup group winners and runners-up will play the second leg at home.”

That’s from UEFA, and it explains in a nutshell why Villa must beat Hamburg tomorrow night. We had a fantastic chance to top the group when we played at home to MŠK, but blew it thanks to some appalling management and even worse defending.

Quite why Martin O’Neill picked the team he did against the Slovakians beats me, but it didn’t work. Hamburg should have been a dead rubber, but it’s not. A win is vital to give Villa the best chance of winning the next round. That said, finishing third would be far better than finishing second.

I fancy us against anyone currently in the UEFA Cup, but the Champions League drop-outs would be far more problematic.

Betting