The first leg of the European Association League's top 16 match will begin in the early hours of Friday morning, when the Premier League team Aston Villa will visit the Dutch Eredivisie team Ajax. Villa's current situation is far better than Ajax's, and coupled with the mental outlook shown by both sides this season, the visiting team is even better. There is reason to believe that Villa can take the lead in this trip.

Everyone knows that Ajax's overall performance has declined this season. They even briefly fell to the position of deputy captain of the Eredivisie after 8 league rounds. Although they later returned to fifth place after coaching changes, for this Eredivisie giant, , such a ranking is also not an ideal position. It should be pointed out that Ajax has experienced ups and downs in form again recently. In the last 7 games in all competitions, it has only 1 win, 4 losses and 2 losses in regular time. In 4 of them, the defense conceded at least 2 goals. Focusing on the European war, Ajax broke through the Europa League play-offs this year, but unfortunately they only ranked third in Group B after 6 group matches. They missed the knockout rounds and had to participate in the UEFA Europa League play-offs. Facing Podukilint from Norway, the Eredivisie giants drew with their opponents in both rounds. Only by relying on a superior move in overtime did they risk winning a European Cup. Qualified for the top 16 of the Confederation, so Ajax's performance in this European competition is actually hard to say ideal. In addition, Stephen Bewien and Stephen Begshaws were absent from the game due to injuries. This time against the menacing Villa, Ajax's home defeat was inevitable.

After Aimali took over as Villa coach last season, he led the team from the bottom of the league to seventh in the league and successfully qualified for the European competition. This performance was surprising enough. This season, Villa continues to move forward, ranking fourth in the league after 27 rounds, and has great hope of locking in a qualification for the next UEFA Champions League. Let’s take a look at Villa’s UEFA Champions League performance this season. They lost only 1 game in 6 group matches, scored 12 goals and conceded only 7 goals. It should be pointed out that in this year's group match, Villa had a double-kill against Ekmaya, who is also from the Eredivisie, with a goal-to-goal ratio of 6 to 2, which shows that they have a certain understanding of the Eredivisie's tactical playing style. Coupled with the fact that Ollie Cujkens has taken great advantage of Aimari's command, according to statistics, he has played a total of 37 games for Villa in all competitions this season, scoring 21 goals and 10 assists, including in the group stage. Scoring 2 goals and contributing 5 goals in the recent three consecutive victories, his performance in this club is definitely worthy of attention. Considering that Villa has not lost in all competitions since entering 2024 (4 wins and 2 draws), this expedition to Ajax is determined to win first. In addition, defender Tyrann Mings and midfielder Emerano Buendia are both exempt due to injuries.