Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery has acknowledged that he is expecting an evenly-contested tie with Lille in the Europa Conference League quarter-finals.
The Premier League outfit have spent the entirety of the 2023-24 competition as the favourites to lift the trophy at the end of the season.
However, Villa had to overcome a losing start in the group stage against Legia Warsaw to top Group E, before being drawn against Ajax in the last 16.
Villa came through that challenge, responding to a goalless draw in Amsterdam with a 4-0 victory in the West Midlands, but their reward for defeating the Dutch giants was a last-eight showdown with Lille.
Of all the teams remaining in the tournament, there is an argument that Lille are on a par with Villa, sitting in fourth position in Ligue 1 with just 25 goals conceded in 28 games.
Furthermore, Paulo Fonseca's side have not lost any of their 10 Europa Conference League fixtures this season, winning six and drawing four.
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What has Emery had to say?
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, Emery called on his players to respect the competition, as well as refusing to entertain any questions about the Premier League tussle with Arsenal that takes place three days later.
The Spaniard said: "Firstly, you must always respect the competition. It's good for us to have this experience in the competition, sometimes we had difficult moments.
"Losing against Legia and then winning against Zrinjski in the last minute. We had some good games against Ajax. We drew there and then played with personality here.
"Lille are the same [as us]. They have experiences in Europe. I know the president [of Lille] and he is very competitive, he's an experienced man.
"They are focused on this competition and this path to the final. They don't play in the French league between their two matches against us. They are fourth in the league and have a great coach."
On the Arsenal fixture at the Emirates Stadium, he added: "We are speaking about the game tomorrow and thinking about that match, not the one to come after. That wouldn't be good for everybody."
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Villa's selection issues
Emery also confirmed that as many as seven senior players will be absent from the first leg at Villa Park.
Five of those were already known, with Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara, Jacob Ramsey and Emiliano Buendia all in line to miss the rest of the season.
Calum Chambers was not included in the squad list, while Matty Cash and Clement Lenglet are yet to put themselves back in contention after recent injuries.
Darren Plant
