Aston Villa’s European odyssey continues this evening with a short trip across the North Sea to Amsterdam to face Ajax in the last 16 of the Europa Conference League. 

While Unai Emery’s side may no longer hold machinations of winning a Premier League title this season, having dropped off the pace since their remarkable start, a European trophy remains firmly on the agenda. 

And in truth, you’d be hard pressed to find many other sides that you would fancy more to end up lifting the title that West Ham won last term come season’s end. 

Three straight wins in the Premier League have settled Emery’s side somewhat after a slight wobble at the start of this year and they now sit five points clear of Spurs in fourth place.

Over that period their goalscoring has been prodigious but there have been issues at the other end, having kept just one clean sheet in their last seven games.

They will hope to be more rigid against an Ajax side who’s form has been anyone’s guess so far this season. 

They sit five points behind AZ Alkmaar – a side Villa beat in the group stages of this competition – in the Eredivisie and, prior to last weekend, had gone 16 matches without a clean sheet. 

That said, this is still a side with formidable talent and one which also features Jordan Henderson, who faces an English side for the first time since his then-aborted move to Saudi.