At A Glance
Group E is finely poised as Aston Villa head to the Netherlands for a Europa Conference League match against AZ Alkmaar.
All four teams are locked on three points after the first two matchdays, with Unai Emery’s team losing to Legia Warszawa before beating HŠK Zrinjski last time out.
Villa make the trip on the back of a four-game unbeaten run following a 4-1 success against West Ham United on Sunday.
AZ are flying high in second place in the Eredivisie, having won eight and drawn one of their opening nine matches.
Pascal Jansen’s team beat Heerenveen 3-0 in their last outing, with top scorer Vangelis Pavlidis netting a hat-trick.
Alkmaar have lost only once in 15 matches this season, surrendering a three goal lead to lose 4-3 against HŠK Zrinjski on matchday one.
European Pedigree
AZ Alkmaar have competed in European competition for six successive seasons dating back to 2018/19.
During that run, their best performance came when they reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League last term, losing 3-1 on aggregate to eventual winners West Ham.
AZ have been regulars in the Europa League, while also making a Champions League appearance when they were drawn alongside Arsenal in the group stage of the 2009/10 campaign.
The club are yet to win a European trophy, coming closest to doing so when they lost out to Ipswich Town 5-4 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup final of 1981.
Ron Saunders guided Aston Villa into Europe for the first time in 1975 and the club have appeared in European competitions during 17 seasons.
Saunders led Villa to the quarter-final of the European Cup in 1981/82 before leaving the club mid-season. Tony Barton took over and guided the team to the final, where they overcame Bayern Munich 1-0 on a famous night in Rotterdam. They also collected the European Super Cup a few months later.
Appearances in the UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup and Europa League have followed, but this is the club’s first foray into Europe since 2010.
Form Guide
Jansen’s team are hot on the heels of leaders PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie.
One of three teams who’ve navigated their first nine games unbeaten, AZ have only dropped points ion one occasion – a 1-1 draw against Heracles Almelo in September.
Since then they’ve won six straight league matches by an aggregate scoreline of 16-1.
After their only defeat of the season so far against Zrinjski, they overcame Legia 1-0 at home earlier this month.
The Boss
"AZ Alkmaar, I played against them in 2012 in the Europa League and we lost here with Valencia. I remember it. Last year they played the semi-final against West Ham and they were very close to winning against them. I know if we want to do something important in this competition we have to really want to do it, and really show it. And tomorrow is a really good opportunity to try to play in our best capacity, our skills as players and being very focused in 90 minutes. That is the idea.”
Unai Emery
