Arsenal were main course - Basel are just dessert for the soaring Villans

After beating the Premier League table-toppers on Saturday, a duel against the third-placed Swiss Super League team in the UEFA Europa League shouldn't be a problem, right? Well, for Aston Villa it was quite troublesome, but Unai Emery's men proved their quality, beating Basel on the road 2-1. To be fair, the Spaniard "shuffled" the lineup, keeping his key players fresh for the upcoming EPL challenges, but that's what makes this triumph even more valuable.

The Villans opened the match perfectly, breaking the deadlock after only 12 minutes thanks to Evan Guessand, who reacted the best in the melee in the Swiss side's box, exploited the fact that Ludovic Magnin's men failed to clear the ball properly, and broke the deadlock.

However, the home team bounced back quickly. The 28th-minute Leo Leroy's leveller didn't stand because of an offside, but six minutes later, VAR couldn't help Villa.

The ex-Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaqiri took a long-distance free kick and found Flavius Daniliuc, who seized the chance after a poor reaction of the visitors' custodian, Marco Bizot, and took things back to square one.

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Emery reacted during the break, leaving the right-back and one of the scorers against Arsenal, Matty Cash, in the locker room, and sending Youri Tielemans to the pitch instead of the Polish international.

And this move paid off for the Spaniard just eight minutes into the second half, as the Belgian put the Villans back in front, with a fantastic effort from outside the area.

In the final half an hour, Emery sent some of the regulars - Morgan Rogers, John McGinn, and Boubacar Kamara - to the pitch, pursuing the eventual third goal and trying to seal the deal. Still, it wasn't easy at all, given that Basel desperately wanted to avoid a defeat.

Nevertheless, the home crew's wish wasn't fulfilled (not that they didn't have a chance), as Villa managed to defend the lead and record a crucial road win, which moved them to the top of the UEL table, alongside the French Olympique Lyon and the Danish Midtjylland.

UEFA - EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 6

Dinamo Zagreb - Real Betis 1-3 (0-3)

/Galesic 89 - Dominguez 31 og, Riquelme 34, Antony 38/

Ferencvaros - Rangers 2-1 (1-1)

/Varga 72, Otvos 45+5 - Miovski 27/

Ludogorets - PAOK 3-3 (1-1)

/Stanic 33, Verdon 71, Chochev 77 - Despodov 39, Vogliacco 48, Mythou 90/

Midtjylland - Genk 1-0 (1-0)

/Cho 17/

Nice - Braga 0-1 (0-1)

/Victor 28/

Sturm - Crvena Zvezda 0-1 (0-0)

/Ivanic 55/

Stuttgart - Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-1 (2-0)

/Assignon 24, Tomas 37, Mittelstadt 50 pen, Vagnoman 90+4 - Revivo 52/

Utrecht - Nottingham Forest 1-2 (0-0)

/Van der Hoorn 73 - Kalimuendo 52, Jesus 88/

Young Boys - Lille 1-0 (0-0)

/Males 61/

Basel - Aston Villa 1-2 (1-1)

/Daniliuc 34 - Guessand 12, Tielemans 53/

Brann - Fenerbahce 0-4 (0-3)

/Akturkoglu 5, Talisca 36, 44, 65/

Celta - Bologna 1-2 (1-0)

/Zaragoza 17 - Bernardeschi 65 pen, 75/

Celtic - Roma 0-3 (0-3)

/Mancini 6, Ferguson 36, 45+1/

FCSB - Feyenoord 4-3 (1-2)

/Ngezana 12, Toma 54, Thiam 87, Tanase 90+5 - Tengstedt 41, Timber 43, Sauer 51/

Freiburg - Salzburg 1-0 (0-0)

/Diabate 50 og/

Lyon - Go Ahead Eagles 2-1 (2-1)

/Moreira 3, Sulc 11 - Smit 6/

Panathinaikos - Plzen 0-0

Porto - Malmo 2-1 (2-0)

/Samu 30, 36 - Moura 90+5 og/