A rival Premier League club have helped Aston Villa’s Europa League opponents, Go Ahead Eagles, prepare for their clash against Unai Emery’s side.
Emery, a four-time Europa League-winning manager, will be hoping his Aston Villa side can maintain their current perfect record in Europe’s second-tier club competition with a win in the Netherlands this evening.
Last time out in the Premier League, the West Midlands side beat Spurs 2-1 away from home, thanks to a late strike from Emi Buendia.
Next up, Villa face a tough test against Manchester City at Villa Park on Sunday, but first they must deal with Eredivisie side Go Ahead Eagles.
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The Dutch outfit currently sit 15th in the Europa League, while they are 12th in the Eredivisie, having won just two of their first nine league fixtures this term.
Of course, given the riches involved with the Premier League and overall quality of their squad, Villa are heavy favourites heading into the match in Deventer.
The home side, who were originally named ‘Be Quick’ before the KNVB made them change to ‘Go Ahead’ in 1905/06, before later becoming ‘Go Ahead Eagles’ in 1971, are managed by Melvin Boel, who has reportedly received some pre-match help from another Premier League side.
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Speaking in a press conference ahead of the European clash, Boel admitted that he has, in fact, been helped by Liverpool, with the Premier League champions reportedly sending footage to Go Ahead in preparation for the match.
"We looked at multiple footage on different platforms," he said in a press conference on Wednesday.
"We have some people in football who we have a good connection with, some people from Liverpool.
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"The moment you have that information, you can prepare on the opponent. Liverpool shared with us footage of Aston Villa."
The matter was later put to Emery in his pre-match press conference, to which he replied: “We have our own way. It is to analyse tactically, and then individually, their players.
"From that, we set our game plan. From the information we have, of course, very professional information.
"We are going to try to get our best, and tomorrow we will know how they play."
Topics: Aston Villa, Europa League, Liverpool, Premier League, Football, Unai Emery
Luke Davies