Aston Villa will be looking to end an unwanted club streak when facing Monaco in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
The Premier League outfit head into their first European fixture of 2025 having put together a strong start to the year, going four games unbeaten in all competitions.
As well as sitting just four points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea in the Premier League table, Villa sit in fifth place in the Champions League standings with two games remaining.
Victories over Young Boys, Bayern Munich, Bologna and RB Leipzig have put Unai Emery's side in prime position to finish in the top eight with a top-24 spot essentially guaranteed.
Nevertheless, Villa will take to the pitch at Stade Louis II needing to end an historical negative run of results to retain such a position of strength.
© Imago
What streak are Villa looking to end?
In four matches away against French opposition in European competition, Villa have failed to post a win with two draws and two defeats having been recorded.
The first of those encounters came during the 1997-98 UEFA Cup, Villa earning a goalless draw in Bordeaux as they ultimately prevailed from the first-round tie with a 1-0 aggregate victory.
That was followed by a 2-1 defeat to Rennes in the semi-finals of the 2001-02 Intertoto Cup. Villa were still able to progress via the away goals rule courtesy of a 1-0 win in the second leg.
During the following campaign, Lille negotiated their way past Villa, a 1-1 draw in France helping them to a 3-1 success across the two legs.
Over two decades passed before the next such encounter, Villa meeting Lille yet again in the 2023-24 Conference League quarter-finals and suffering a 2-1 defeat at Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Nevertheless, Emery's side would eventually move through to the last four after a penalty shootout.
© Imago
How do Monaco fare against Premier League opposition?
While this is the first-ever competitive meeting between these two teams, Monaco are no strangers to facing English teams.
Interestingly, Monaco have won four of their last five home encounters against Premier League clubs in the Champions League, defeating Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
However, Adi Hutter's side suffered a 3-0 reverse at the hands of Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium as recently as December 11.
Furthermore, Emery has recorded six successive wins over Monaco, albeit when he was in charge of Paris Saint-Germain and the last of the those victories coming in 2018.
Darren Plant
