Lyon fighting off Emery for a first place with a 17-year-old striker

Olympique Lyon is flying high at the moment. Only one defeat in the last 12 games in all competition is surely that nobody expected at the start of the season but Lyon are currently fourth in Ligue 1 (occupying the last Champions League spot) and first in Europa League. The French giant needs to win tonight in the last round against PAOK in order to prevent Aston Villa taking the top spot, so everything is in the hands of the hosts. But their biggest problem are injuries. And it’s so serious that they will turn for help to a 17-years old striker form the youth rank.

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Former Bayern midfielder Corentin Tolisso is injured again and won’t feature. Pavel Sulc also won't be ready for the PAOK match as well as Orel Mangala and Rachid Ghezzal. Abner Vinicius and Adam Karabec are back, but their biggest signing Endrick won’t be able to participate. The Brazilian came from Real on a loan and instantly made an impact with four goals and an assist in just three games. Noah Nartey will not yet be available for the match against the Greeks. Nor will Martin Satriano, who is eligible for the Europa League but was already loaned out to Getafe during the January transfer window.

"We don't have a striker for the PAOK match but we found one in the reserve team. Remi Himbert will start on Thursday" said Paulo Fonseca. The youngster played as a sub in only three games for the first team this season but will start against the Greek side.

Lyon will be chances by in-form Aston Villa, who are hosting Salzburg and hope that PAOK could suprise the French. The Villans also have their share of injuries so Unai Emery will have to mix the starting 11. Youri Tielemans joined John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara who are also injured for a longer period, while Ross Barkley could come back soon, but not for this match. Andres García will be missing for around three weeks with a hamstring problem so he is not playing either, while new signing Tammy Abraham is not registered in Villa’s league phase squad, alongside Leon Bailey, who was loaned to AC Roma and already played for them in the Europa League.

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Roma, Betis and Porto are all fighting for the top 8 place, while Nottingham Forest has an outside chance to do so. The first condition is a win against Ferencvaros and then they need a host of other results, so a place among 24 teams and playoffs spot is more likely.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 8

Thursday

23.00: (1.45) Aston Villa (4.80) Salzburg (6.50)

23.00: (2.00) Basel (3.85) Plzen (3.60)

23.00: (1.63) Betis (4.50) Feyenoord (5.10)

23.00: (1.38) Celtic (5.00) Utrecht (8.00)

23.00: (2.45) Crvena Zvezda (3.50) Celta (3.15)

23.00: (5.50) FCSB (4.30) Fenerbahce (1.58)

23.00: (1.33) Genk (5.40) Malmo (10.0)

23.00: (4.20) Go Ahead (4.00) Braga (1.85)

23.00: (2.10) Lille (3.50) Freiburg (3.80)

23.00: (1.87) Ludogorets (3.75) Nice (4.30)

23.00: (6.50) Maccabi T.A. (4.50) Bologna (1.50)

23.00: (1.90) Midtjylland (3.70) Dinamo Zagreb (4.40)

23.00: (1.58) Nott.Forest (3.90) Ferencvaros (6.00)

23.00: (2.25) Olympique Lyon (3.50) PAOK (3.30)

23.00: (5.00) Panathinaikos (3.75) Roma (1.75)

23.00: (1.28) Porto (6.25) Rangers (12.0)

23.00: (2.85) Sturm (3.60) Brann (2.50)

23.00: (1.28) Stuttgart (6.75) Young Boys (10.5)

* odds are subject to change