Aston Villa and Ajax could not be separated in last week’s first leg of their Europa League last-16 contest, drawing 0-0 in Amsterdam.

The Villans were then way off the pace in Sunday’s 4-0 home defeat to Tottenham and will need to find some spark to upset an admittedly underpowered Ajax team.

They have lost four in a row away to English opponents, including a 2-0 Europa League setback to Brighton in October. Ajax have suffered a turbulent season, dismissing Maurice Steijn in the days before their defeat at the Amex.

Club stalwart John van ‘t Schip has supervised some improvement, but not enough to see them rank any better than fifth in the Eredivisie standings, 29 points back of champions PSV Eindhoven.

This competition appears to be their greatest chance of qualifying for Europe for next season, but the hosts have Unai Emery at the helm, and he is sure to have a master plan to get them through, with Ollie Watkins set to be the fulcrum.

Captain John McGinn will be available for Villa ahead of his domestic suspension, while Ezri Konsa and Nicolo Zaniolo are banned.

Moussa Diaby, Alex Moreno and Diego Carlos could be promoted off the bench, with Emi Buendia, Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings (all knee) unavailable. Jhon Duran is still out with a hamstring injury and the game could come too early for Jacob Ramsay.

Ajax may recall Devyne Rensch following his suspension in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Fortuna Sittard, while Tristan Gooijer is out following his red card last week. Experienced Dutch internationals Steven Bergwijn (muscle) and Steven Berghuis (knee) are also absent. Villa overcame Hibernian 3-0 at home in the qualifications before upsetting Zrinjski 1-0, AZ 2-1 and Legia Warsaw 2-1.

Their defeat to Tottenham means they have now lost four of their previous five matches at home, having been vanquished just once in 15 competitive appearances before that.

Ajax failed to win any of their group games in the Europa League and, although they beat Bodo/Glimt in the play-off rounds for this stage, they have traditionally struggled on the road, losing their past two Eredivisie away trips.

Villa talisman Watkins has failed to score in his last two Conference League games, but did score in the first half of the two matches before that.

Emery might be Villa’s trump card, with the Spaniard a specialist in European competitions, winning the Europa League three times with Sevilla and collecting the trophy again when in charge of Villarreal.

He also lost in the final when in charge of Arsenal and will not consider the Conference League as a step down, as he wants to add to his CV as he aims to steer his present club into the Champions League.

Emery’s development of select players has been obvious, with Watkins among those who have gained.

The 28-year-old has netted five goals in three games prior to the first-leg draw and defeat to Spurs and will see this game as a chance to show he can play in Europe.

We offer an enhanced prize of up to £1million this week! Predict the score of all six LiveScore 6 fixtures for your chance to win — and it’s free to play.

If you get just one score right, you will be placed into a prize draw to win a mystery football jersey, courtesy to our friends at Mystery Football. 18+, UK/Ireland residents only, T&Cs apply.