Sancho secures Villa's progress with his maiden goal

World Cup winner Dibu Martinez is injured and it‘s also likely he will leave Aston Villa (probably in June and not in January) but coach Unai Emery already has a good replacement - Marco Bizot. The 34 years old Dutch keeper was the man of the match with eight saves against Fenerbahce, but in reality, it was Jadon Sanco who had a chance to get that ‘title‘ after 90 minutes: Fenerbahce – Aston Villa 0-1. The Manchester United loanee scored the winner (and his first goal for Villa) in the 25th minute but could have scored two more easily. In both cases, he had an embarrassingly bad first touch which prevented his hat-trick. Considering the number of chances for both sides, it‘s a miracle that the game finished with only one goal, but players like Bizot and Milan Skriniar from the home side prevented it.

Villa was a better team and deserved the win, even thou Emery made five changes and didn‘t play with his strongest 11. The Villains are surprisingly third in the Premier League and have a tough away game against Newcastle on Sunday, but even these players was enough for Fenerbahce. The Turkish team is full of former Premier League stars (Jhon Duran, Marco Asensio, Ederson, Nelson Semedo and Fred all started) but they just couldn't find the way to score at least one goal in front of the fanatic home crowd. This game also marked Emery's 100th match in charge of a team in the Europa League. He's the first manager to hit that mark - no one else comes close. With this triumph, Aston Villa booked their place in top eight in Europa League, which means they avoided additional games via play-offs.

The game was fiery with lots of pace and pressure from the very first minute. Both teams had their chances but none of them was a clear one. It was either a miss over the bar, of another defender came in to block the shot. It was Jadon Sancho who scored for Villa in the 25th minute with a bit of luck. Cash's cross was inadvertently flicked on by Yuksek and Sancho was there to nod in the opener for Villa. Fenerbahçe didn‘t play that bad but Villa was more concrete and organized. They should have scored the second goal in the 43rd minute when Rogers passed the ball to Sancho who was all alone in the penalty area but his first touch was terrible and was enough to keep him from scoring from the first shot. It was also enough for the home defenders to rush in and block his attempt.

United‘s loanee had the best opportunity for Villa in the second half, but again missed. It was 52nd minute when Watkins got the ball and fed Sancho who had the poor first touch again and again it was experienced Skriniar who blocked the shot. At that point Tedesco introduced Talisca an the Brazilian needed just three minutes to create the best chance for the home team, but Bizot saved it perfectly. Talisca had another chance minutes later but Villa keeper was at his place again. The visitors scored in the 66th minute, just after Matty Cash hit the bar, but the goal was denied by VAR as Sancho was in offside. The same situation happened in the 75th minute, just one the other side of the pitch. The stadium erupted when Akturkoglu scored the equalizer, only to see VAR nullifying that goal due to Duran‘s offside.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 7

Thursday

Bologna - Celtic 2-2 (0-2)

/Dallinga 56, Rowe 72 - Hatate 5, Trusty 40/

Brann - Midtjylland 3-3 (1-2)

/Holm 19,Korwing 68(p), Soltvend 90(p) - Erlić 4, Brumado 31/

Fenerbahce - Aston Villa 0-1 (0-1)

/Sancho 25/

Feyenoord - Sturm 3-0 (1-0)

/Watanabe 5, Moussa 68, Borges 90/

Freiburg - Maccabi T.A. 1-0 (0-0)

/Matanovic 82/

Malmo - Crvena Zvezda 0-1 (0-1)

/Kostov 16

PAOK - Betis 2-0 (0-0)

/Zivkovic 67, Giakoumakis 86 (p)/

Plzen - Porto 1-1 (1-0)

/Červ 6 - Gull 90/

Young Boys - Olympique Lyon 0-1 (0-1)

/ Maitland-Niles 45+1/

23.00: (2.70) Braga (3.35) Nott.Forest (2.60)

23.00: (2.40) Celta (3.45) Lille (3.15)

23.00: (1.80) Dinamo Zagreb (3.70) FCSB (5.00)

23.00: (2.35) Ferencvaros (3.40) Panathinaikos (3.25)

23.00: (2.00) Nice (3.90) Go Ahead (3.65)

23.00: (2.00) Rangers (3.70) Ludogorets (3.80)

23.00: (2.20) Roma (3.50) Stuttgart (3.45)

23.00: (2.30) Salzburg (3.80) Basel (3.00)

23.00: (3.10) Utrecht (3.50) Genk (2.40)

***odds are subject to change***