Basel have produced a mixed bag of results so far in the UEL, but Villa have been much more predictable - predictably good.
A victory here would’ve secured Villa a spot in the top 24, but with their sights set much higher than just that, Unai Emery’s men started on the offensive and took an early lead when a loose ball inside the area fell favourably for Evann Guessand, and he made no mistake in firing it back into the bottom corner.
Basel weren’t particularly deterred by Villa’s opener and continued to pour forward at every opportunity. One of those attacks eventually yielded what they thought was the leveller when Benie Traore squared for Leo Leroy to fire home into the far corner, but their joy was short-lived as a swift VAR check confirmed Dominik Robin Schmid had strayed offside in the build-up.
It only proved to be a temporary reprieve for Emery’s men, as Basel did eventually level the scores just moments later when Flavius Daniliuc nipped in front of Marco Bizot to steer home Xherdan Shaqiri’s free-kick.
Emery had seen enough at half-time and withdrew Matty Cash in place of Youri Tielemans. It was a decision which bore fruit within 10 minutes of the restart as the Belgian fired the Villans back in front, sweeping home from the edge of the area after Emi Buendía teed him up perfectly.
Villa made changes which stifled the game somewhat, despite the attacking nature of them, and Jadon Sancho’s unhappy reaction to being substituted will be something which tarnishes the night for Villa a little.
The drab state of the second half more than suited Villa, who knew their work for the evening was done and were able to strangle the life out of the game in the closing stage, Bizot collecting a yellow card for timewasting perfectly encapsulated Villa’s approach to the closing stages, but even a late Basel onslaught wasn’t enough to prevent them securing an eighth competitive victory in a row.
A late Albian Ajeti header, which flashed wide, was as close as Basel came to an unlikely equaliser, but they couldn’t prevent slumping to a first UEL defeat at St Jakob-Park since October 2015.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa)