Villa on verge of qualifying after battling win at Basel

Second-half substitute Youri Tielemans hit the winner to help Aston Villa move a step closer to automatic qualification in the Europa League with a 2-1 win at Basel.

- SUNNY BADWAL

Villa's win means they are now three points clear inside the top eight with two matches to play and have guaranteed themselves a playoff spot at the very least.

Evann Guessand got Villa off to a dream start with his second goal of the Europa League campaign, but the home side grew into it: Leo Leroy saw a goal ruled out for offside but Flavius Daniliuc was not to be denied an equalising goal moments later.

Tielemans replaced Matty Cash at the break and it only took him eight minutes to make his mark when he restored Villa's lead with a neat finish.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery knew the match was not going to be easy against a side that had won seven Europa League games at home on the bounce.

He told TNT Sport: “We knew before the match the difficulties we were facing. After we did the last match, a lot of words after our victory against Arsenal, it is not easy to recover, the structure in our mentality to keep the same hard work we did.