We have seen an upturn in our fortunes since our 1-0 victory over Bologna. Since then we have won 6 out of 8 games. Whilst we succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool at Anfield last Saturday, the other omission from the winning column came as a bit of shock.

I had said that we should not underestimate Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles and that turn out to be true. Several changes to our line up and an early goal from Guessand, things were looking promising for the 3rd win on the bounce in the Europa League.

However the Dutch side held strong and took their chances to record an unlikely 2-1 win. We are May feel down in the Europa League but are certainly not out.

For starters we are in the league phase, the 2nd season of this format. Plus last season in the Europa League, Tottenham Hotspur lost in the league stage and went on to win the trophy. The only side to be unbeaten in the league stage was Manchester United and they would only be eventually beaten in the final itself, 1-0 by Spurs.

PSG lost 5 times in the Champions League, including of course that famous 3-2 win for Villa in the Quarter-Finals. Even Chelsea, who took the Conference League easily, lost a game in the knockout stages.

We face two home games this month in the Europa League and two wins should see us in a good place to qualify for the top 8 and last 16, with 2 tricky away games on either side of the end of year.

The first game at Villa Park is against Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabi Tel Aviv had a difficult start to their Europa League campaign.

After drawing 0-0 with PAOK, they recorded successive home defeats to Dinamo Zagreb (3-1) and Midtiylland (3-0). They start the game 32nd out of 36 teams.

Villa start in 10th place and will be looking for three points to climb up the table. We’ve been hit with news that Tyrone Mings will be out for least 7 weeks after picking up another injury at Liverpool. Midfielder Youri Tielemans is still out although he should be back by the end of the month and has returned to training.

The match has been sadly overshadowed by the political conflict between Israel and Palestine. No away fans will be travelling on the advice of the UK police, having received input from their counterparts in other countries where these fans have been involved in trouble. Banning away fans with a record of aggression is nothing new but this has become a hot potato. 

Our ground is in an area of Birmingham with a huge Muslim community. There will be many security measure in place including a greatly increased security presence. 

I conclude by asking all my fellow Bedford Lions and anyone else travelling to the match to enjoy the game and make sure you are as safe as possible. And with the hope that tomorrow’s headlines will be all about our stunning football rather than violence. 

Let’s roar the boys to victory and Up The Villa!