Aston Villa vs Olympiacos LIVE: Europa Conference League team news, line-ups and more ahead of semi-final tonight

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery says he has full faith in deputy goalkeeper Robin Olsen going into Thursday’s Europa League Conference semi-final first leg with Olympiacos.

The Sweden international will play as number one Emiliano Martinez is suspended after picking up three yellow cards in the competition so far, with two of them coming in the quarter-final second-leg win in Lille.

Olsen may well have been playing anyway as Martinez sustained a hamstring injury in the first half of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea, with the 34-year-old coming on at half-time.

The other match tonight is Fiorentina vs Club Brugge – naturally, the winners there and in this tie will be meeting in the final.

This year, the Europa Conference League final is being held in Athens…another big incentive, then, for Villa’s opponents to go the distance.

We’ll also keep you posted from the Europa League semis played tonight:

All matches kick off at 8pm BST.

For their opponents, Olympiacos, this is as big as it gets for them in recent years, and they are doing it with some of the castaway members from Premier League clubs.

It is a first-ever appearance in a European semi-final for Thrylos, their place in the final four has been in jeopardy on multiple occasions along the way.

Nathan Edwards looks at Villa’s opponents tonight:

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Unai Emery’s side survived a penalty shootout to edge out Lille in the last eight and get home advantage first in the two-legged tie.

Their Greek opponents also needed penalties to overcome Fenerbahce, with Konstantinos Tzolakis saving three penalties to continue to build his reputation as a goalkeeper of real promise.

The winner of the encounter will take on either Fiorentina or Club Brugge in the final in Athens on May 29.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Hello and welcome to the Independent’s live coverage of the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg, where Aston Villa are playing hosts to Greek side Olympiacos.

It’s a massive chance to land silverware for the Premier League club, who have been resurgent under Unai Emery and could yet seal a top-four finish in England too. For now though it’s full attention on the hunt for a European trophy, meaning they’ll need a decent first-leg result tonight.

Stay tuned for all the team news and match buildup.