Aston Villa have not scored a competitive goal since the Europa League final in Istanbul in May. Three Premier League fixtures back in England have produced one point and no goals: a 0-0 draw at Hull City on Saturday, and defeats to Brighton and Arsenal before that.
The goalless run coincided with Emery’s 200th match in charge of Villa. The Spaniard was upbeat afterwards, if unconvinced by his forwards.
“We weren’t clinical. We had four very good chances to score and of course if we do the match can change,” Emery said.
Kick-off at Jan Breydel Stadion is at 6:45pm local time. Villa arrive as the winners of last season’s Europa League, a 3-0 victory over Freiburg sealed by goals from Youri Tielemans, Emiliano Buendía and Morgan Rogers. It was Emery’s fifth Europa League title as a manager. Two of those three scorers have since left the club.
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A rebuilt squad, but not yet a scoring one
Tielemans, Rogers, Emiliano Martínez, Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Lucas Digne all departed over the summer. In came Nicolas Jackson, Zion Suzuki, Leon Goretzka on a free, and Alejandro Garnacho on loan from Chelsea. Garnacho started the draw at Hull on the bench and came on after 76 minutes.
The injury list is long. Amadou Onana is out with an ACL problem picked up at the World Cup and has no fixed return date. Johan Manzambi (knee) and Brian Madjo (ankle) are also unavailable, with Madjo not due back before 19 September at the earliest.
João Gomes is eligible for the Champions League despite serving a three-match domestic ban.
Facing an opponent Villa know very well
Brugge and Villa are meeting for the fourth time in two seasons. Last term Villa put the Belgian champions out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage, winning 6-1 on aggregate with a 3-0 second-leg victory at Villa Park.
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The Belgian side arrive with domestic momentum: four wins in five Jupiler Pro League matches under head coach Ivan Leko, who took over from Nicky Hayen last December. It is a Belgian record 13th appearance in the Champions League group or league phase.
Opta’s supercomputer makes Villa marginal favourites: 38.9 per cent to win, Brugge 35.5 per cent, a draw at 25.6 per cent.
Six games open the league phase
Villa’s fixture is one of six on the opening night. Real Madrid host Inter, Porto face Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund play Villarreal and Lille meet Real Betis, all part of the expanded league-phase format that runs through to 27 January.
Ten of the 12 remaining Matchday 1 games follow on Wednesday and Thursday, with Barcelona hosting Feyenoord, Liverpool welcoming Atlético de Madrid and Manchester United meeting Sabah among them.
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