Aston Villa have already qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League but a point at Zrinjski Mostar would mean they skip a round and advance straight to the last 16.
Aston Villa set their sights on winning the Europa Conference League at the start of this season after watching West Ham United lift the trophy in June.
But after barging their way into the title conversation in the Premier League following victories over Manchester City and Arsenal, the question remains whether Unai Emery can juggle the demands of playing multiple games at home and abroad.
So far, Villa seem to be coping well and have notoriously rotated heavily in this competition to give their fringe players a chance to shine.
With qualification all but wrapped up and only a point needed to advance into the round of 16, Emery can ring the changes once more to the side that beat the Gunners on Saturday night.
One of those could be replacing central midfielder Boubacar Kamara with Leander Dendoncker.
Having watched the Belgian come off the bench to help close out the game against Arsenal, he should be awarded with a rare start in Bosnia.
Will Leander Dendoncker start for Villa tonight?
After being on the periphery of the action for most of the season, he came on and did a wonderful job in midfield last time out.
He replaced Kamara for the last 23 minutes of the match and did what was asked of him.
With Villa not having much possession in the final stages of the game and being just content to shut up shop, Dendoncker’s arrival on the field was timely.
The £90k-a-week titan formed an impenetrable brick wall alongside Douglas Luiz and Youri Tielemans as Emery attempted to make the pitch the pitch as narrow as possible to prevent Arsenal from breaking through.
It worked a treat as Dendoncker won two of his three ground duels, as per Sofascore, and made two tackles.
Having shown his defensive capabilities on Saturday, a fixture against Zrinjski Mostar can allow the Belgian to showcase his quality in possession.
In his three appearances in the competition so far, the “superb” midfielder – as lauded by journalist Ben Evans – has averaged an impressive 97% pass completion and completed every single pass in his half.
With an important fixture against Brentford on Sunday, Emery’s first-choice XI must be well-rested and given Villa have already qualified, there’s no need to go strong this evening.
That means Dendoncker could well be given a rare start.
