UEFA Cup Returns: Aston Villa, Tottenham, and Man City in Action

The UEFA Cup returns to action this Wednesday and Thursday with the Round of 32. Three English teams are still involved and face difficult tests in order to progress. It is worth noting that should Aston Villa and Tottenham both prevail then they will meet in the next round. If Manchester City win then they will meet either Aalborg or Deportivo La Coruña.

Aston Villa v. CSKA Moscow

First up on Wednesday are Aston Villa who host 2004-05 winners CSKA Moscow. Martin O’Neill’s side will be looking to bounce straight back from their FA Cup defeat at the weekend but will need to be extremely mindful of the Russian side who have won all six of their games in the competition so far—including topping Group H with four wins out of four, being the only team to do so.

The game at Villa Park will be CSKA’s first competitive outing since their domestic season wrapped up last November, a campaign which saw them finish second behind new champions FC Rubin Kazan. However, second place was enough to guarantee direct qualification into the Champions League Group Stage for the 2009-10 season.

New manager Zico will be in charge for the first time as he seeks to live up to the success achieved by Valeri Gazzaev, who left the club in December as the most decorated manager in their history.

Villa qualified for this round by finishing third in Group F behind Hamburg and Ajax and will need to improve on their record of only one home win in four outings so far if they are to have any chance against the Russians.

Shakhtar Donetsk v. Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham will travel to the Ukraine on Thursday night to face Shakhtar Donetsk who enter the competition at this stage having finished third in Champions League Group C behind Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon.

However, they went out with a bang winning 3-2 in the Nou Camp in their last game, albeit against an inexperienced Barcelona side already sure of progression.

Shakhtar are currently fifth in the Ukraine Championship and someway off the pace but can count on previous success against Tottenham’s north London neighbours Arsenal in 2000, when they narrowly lost 3-2 at Highbury but won 3-0 at home.

Harry Redknapp will be hoping his team can continue their fine cup form of recent seasons and has been able to include new signings Carlo Cudicini, Pascal Chimbonda, and Wilson Palacios in his revised squad. However, the former two times winners will still be over-reliant on Darren Bent for goals as they were unable to register Jermain Defoe or Roman Pavlyuchenko.

FC København v. Manchester City

Mark Hughes takes his Manchester City side to Denmark for Thursday evening’s match eager to continue the form which saw them qualify for this round by winning Group A. Like Tottenham, City are also able to call on new recruits from the January transfer window in the shape of Shay Given, Wayne Bridge, and Craig Bellamy.

Both teams have already played ten games to get this far, having both come through two qualifying rounds in the summer.

København finished third in Group G behind St. Etienne and Valencia and will be keen to rediscover the form which saw them beat City’s arch rivals Manchester United 1-0 at home in 2006. København are currently second in the Danish Superligaen behind Brondby.