Comment: Europa League has the potential to ignite Aston Villa's season for the second time

No manager knows better how to win the Europa League than Emery, who is aiming to do so for the fifth time in his career.

Just at this moment, however, there is a sense any victory in any match will do for the Spaniard as he looks to pull his Villa team from their alarming slump.

It was a similar story when their European campaign began back in September. 

Villa hosted Bologna in the opening match of the competition’s group phase, having failed to win any of the season’s first six matches.

A John McGinn goal was enough to earn a 1-0 victory and spark a run which saw them win 22 of the next 27 games in all competitions, including at one point a club record equalling 11 straight.

From those great heights, Villa have recently come back down to earth. They visit Lille on Thursday night for the first leg of a last-16 tie having won just one of their last seven matches in all competitions and none of the last four, a sequence which has seen them exit the FA Cup and slip out of the Premier League’s top-three for the first time since December.

In the immediate aftermath of last week’s chastening 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea, Emery sounded like a man acknowledging the need for a rethink. 

Thursday night in France will give the first indication what, if any, answers the manager has been able to find during the hours of analysis and reflection which have taken place in the eight-day gap between matches.

Any assessment of Villa’s struggles must start with the triple injury blow of losing Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and McGinn to injury on consecutive January weekends.

Not only are the trio key players on the pitch, they are also big voices in the dressing room.

The return of captain McGinn to fitness will, therefore, come as a huge boost, albeit Tielemans remains some way away from completing his recovery, while Kamara is lost for the season.

Yet though Emery can undoubtedly point to misfortune, it is also true the manager is still searching to get the best out of a rejigged squad following the closure of the winter transfer window.

Not every decision Villa made in January was enforced. Recalling Leon Bailey from Roma and allowing Evann Guessand to join Crystal Palace on loan has had little positive impact.

Of even greater intrigue was what Villa did up front, with Donyell Malen’s departure to Roman paving the way for Tammy Abraham’s £18.2million move from Besiktas.

The narrative around Malen, a £21m signing from Borussia Dortmund 12 months earlier, was he did not quite fit Emery’s style of play.

But while the Netherlands international was restricted to just 11 starts, he was also one of only three Villa players to have featured in every match this season, his seven goals coming at a rate of one every 140 minutes.

Ollie Watkins, by contrast, has netted a goal every 326 minutes during what has been comfortably the most difficult campaign of his Villa career.

Despite scoring twice in the 227 minutes he has spent on the pitch since his return, Abraham is yet to dislodge Watkins from the starting XI.

Villa’s problems don’t start and end in attack but it is there they most need to justify their January dealings.

Emery also requires more from the supporting cast, with Emi Buendia’s impressive form having tailed off and Jadon Sancho too often flattering to deceive.

Harvey Elliott, fit again following a recent minor injury, could also have a part to play in Villa’s quest for Europa League glory.

Matches in the competition do not count toward the 10-appearance obligation to buy clause in the midfielder’s loan deal from Liverpool.

Elliott has endured a nightmare campaign but for Villa and Emery it is a case of all hands on deck as they try and get back on track.