Unai Emery has stressed all season that the Premier League is Aston Villa’s priority and beating Club Brugge on Wednesday would allow them to focus on it fully.
Villa suffered a mini-wobble by losing to Crystal Palace and Tottenham in the space of four days and another slip-up in Belgium would be unwelcome, especially with a trip to Liverpool on the horizon.
Yet Villa’s perfect record in the Champions League so far affords them breathing space and three more points against Brugge would virtually guarantee them a spot in the knockout stages.