At the end of another turbulent week, the 2025/26 season reaches an important milestone at Villa Park on Thursday evening.
Aston Villa have three competitions left to play in and the Europa League might be the most important of all. It’s their best chance of qualifying for the Champions League and that’s not saying a great deal.
With each passing piss-poor game, the realistic target for the season shifts. Qualifying for Europe through the Premier League looks a long way off and winning the Europa League is a notion so laughable in the context of performances as to be a non-issue.
It’s probably wishful thinking to see the Europa League as an opportunity to start with a clean slate. It’s probably naïve to believe this league phase opener against Serie A outfit Bologna can kickstart a long overdue bit of form.
It’s definitely optimistic to think Thursday’s game will be Villa’s first win of 2025/26 but the truth is it simply has to be. Nothing else will do.