BIRMINGHAM. Aston Villa annihilates Ajax 4-0 with goals of Ollie Watkins (25′), Leon Bailey (60′), Jhon Durán (75′) and Moussa Diaby (81′).

The match was played at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham on Thursday and it started at 8:00 pm local time. The referee was Orel Grinfeeld with the support of Roei Hassan and Idan Yarkoni. The 4th official was Gal Laibuvitz. The weather was broken clouds. The temperature was cold at 14.21 degrees Celsius or 57.58 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 90%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

None of the teams had a clear upper hand in terms of ball possession. Aston Villa was in possession of the ball for 46% of the time vs. Ajax that controlled the ball for 54% of the time.

Attitude and shots

Ajax was more aggressive with 34 dangerous attacks and 2 shots of which 1 were on target. Anyway, Aston Villa was able to find the solution to win this match.​

Aston Villa shot 13 times, 8 on target, 4 off target. Talking about the opposition, Ajax shot 2 times, 1 on target, 1 off target.

Cards

Aston Villa received 2 yellow cards (Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers). Talking about the opposition, Ajax received 1 yellow card (Sivert Mannsverk).

Standings

After playing this encounter, Aston Villa has 13 points to sit in the 1st place. On the other side, Ajax will stays with points to hold in the 0th place.

Next matches

Aston Villa – Formation

Aston Villa started with a conservative line-up (4-4-2).

The manager Unai Emery Etxegoien decided to play with the following team: Emiliano Martínez (7.0), Matty Cash (7.7), Diego Carlos (7.0), Pau Torres (7.0), Álex Moreno (7.0), Leon Bailey (7.8), John McGinn (7.0), Douglas Luiz (7.8), Morgan Rogers (6.7), Moussa Diaby (8.5) and Ollie Watkins (7.1).

The home team had on the bench: Lucas Digne, Clément Lenglet (6.8), Joe Gauci, Jhon Durán (7.7), Robin Olsen, Kaine Kesler, Omari Kellyman (6.6), Tim Iroegbunam (6.7) and Youri Tielemans (7.3).

Aston Villa could not rely on the presence of Clément Lenglet (injured) and Jhon Durán (injured).

Substitutions

Aston Villa made 5 changes: Morgan Rogers for Youri Tielemans (46′), Leon Bailey for Tim Iroegbunam (74′), Diego Carlos for Clément Lenglet (74′), Douglas Luiz for Omari Kellyman (83′) and Ollie Watkins for Jhon Durán (33′).

Player of the match: Moussa Diaby​

The most impressive player for Aston Villa was Moussa Diaby.

His rating is 8.5 with 1 goal, 27 passes (78% accurate) and 2 key passes. He won 4 duels out of 7. He performed 2 crosses.

Ajax – Formation

Ajax started with a 3-4-2-1 line-up (3-4-2-1).

John van ‘t Schip played with: Diant Ramaj (6.4), Josip Sutalo (6.7), Ahmetcan Kaplan  (6.6), Jorrel Hato (6.1), Devyne Rensch (6.3), Jordan Henderson (6.3), Sivert Mannsverk (5.1), Borna Sosa (6.6), Kristian Hlynsson (6.3), Kenneth Taylor (6.7) and Brian Brobbey (6.3).

These were the players on the bench: Gerónimo Rulli , Anton Gaaei (6.3), Chuba Akpom (6.7), Carlos Forbs, Jakov Medic, Julian Rijkhoff, Branco van den Boomen, Remko Pasveer , Silvano Vos, Kian Fitz-Jim, Benjamin Tahirovic (6.6) and Mika Godts.

Ajax could not rely on the presence of Benjamin Tahirovic (injured).

Substitutions

Ajax made 3 changes: Josip Sutalo for Anton Gaaei (68′), Devyne Rensch for Benjamin Tahirovic (79′) and Ahmetcan Kaplan  for Chuba Akpom (39′).

Player of the match: Chuba Akpom​

As per our analysis, the most impressive player for Ajax was Chuba Akpom.

His rating is 6.7 with 8 passes (75% accurate) and 1 key pass. He won 1 duel out of 3.

His performance was sensational also because he started the match from the bench before entering in the 39′.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Europa Conference League.​

• Viktoria Plzeň – Servette – 0-0
• Fenerbahçe – Union Saint-Gilloise – 0-1
• PAOK – Dinamo Zagreb – 5-1
• Fiorentina – Maccabi Haifa – 1-1
• Aston Villa – Ajax – 4-0
• Club Brugge – Molde – 3-0
• LOSC Lille – Sturm Graz – 1-1
• Maccabi Tel Aviv – Olympiakos Piraeus – 1-6