Fenerbahce – Aston Villa

The home team needs the win a lot more.

The headline clash of the seventh matchday of the Europa League group stage will take place in Istanbul. At the start of the season, Fenerbahçe had unabashed ambitions to participate in the Champions League. Playing still under Jose Mourinho's leadership, the Turkish side were eliminated in the playoff stage of qualification for the elite European tournament by Benfica, which the Portuguese manager later took charge of. Now Fenerbahçe is coached by Domenico Tedesco, and the club continues to try to strengthen the squad with already established players. For example, there is active discussion about a possible deal for N'Golo Kanté, who has spent time in Saudi Arabia, and Yoane Wissa, who for various reasons did not manage to establish himself at Newcastle. In general, Fenerbahçe even without these players has a star-studded squad, with John Duran, a Colombian forward who really broke through at Aston Villa, leading the attack. Unai Emery's team is the favorite for this season's Europa League. Aston Villa fully justifies that status, sitting at the top of the overall group-stage table alongside Lyon and Midtjylland. As last season's experience shows, the Villans may already have enough with fifteen points to finish in the top eight. Moreover, in the eighth round the Birmingham-based side will host Salzburg at Villa Park, which this season has not taken the Europa League seriously. With the Austrian club at Villa Park, they could pick up the missing points if needed. Bookmakers have not determined the favorites for the upcoming match, offering slightly lower odds on the home team. In the Fenerbahçe camp, after their exit from Champions League qualification a tragic atmosphere settled in. Tedesco managed to level things out. In the Turkish championship, the yellow and navy side are only one point behind Galatasaray, who have dominated here in recent years. In addition, two weeks ago Fenerbahçe beat the mentioned locals in the Turkish Super Cup final. In general, Tedesco's charges approach the match in excellent spirits, which is not the case for the Aston Villa players. They unexpectedly lost in the previous round of the Premier League to Everton and must prepare well for the trip to Newcastle, which will take place just one full day after Istanbul. The hosts need the win more, and their mood will be much better.