Aston Villa v Olympiacos: Europa Conference League injury news as 17 out and 5 doubts

Aston Villa host Olympiacos at Villa Park in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final.

Both teams needed penalties to reach this stage of the competition. Villa defeated Lille and Olympiacos beat Fenerbahce after both sides had an aggregate score of 3-3.

Villa drew 2-2 with Chelsea in their final Premier League match before this fixture. Unai Emery's side went 2-0 up after Morgan Rogers added to Marc Cucurella's own goal but Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher got the Blues back on level terms and but for a VAR decision right at the death Villa could have lost.

Olympiacos played a day later and defeated Lamia 4-1 at the Karaiskakis Stadium. Two current Wolves players Daniel Podence and Chiquinho were on target along with with Fran Navarro and Sotiris Alexandropoulos. José Luis Mendilibar's men ar enow fourth in the league standings, five points off of league leaders AEK Athens with a game in hand.

Here's the latest injury and team news before both managers deliver their pre-match press conferences on Wednesday evening.

Aston Villa team news

Emi Martinez and Youri Tielemans are both likely to miss out as we await official confirmation of their injuries. Social media reports say that Tielemans has a groin injury but there is no serious damage. In Martinez' case he could be out for a fortnight but is aiming to return for the second leg. He would have been suspended anyway after being carded in the penalty shootout against Lille.

Nicolo Zaniolo is out with an unspecified injury after missing the last two games. No return date has been given yet for the 24-year-old. Left-back Alex Moreno is likely to miss out as well unless he has a good week of training. A calf injuy has put him out for the last three weeks and the weekend is when he's expected to return.

Villa already knew that they'd be without Boubacar Kamara, Jacob Ramsey, Emi Buendia and Tyrone Mings. Three out of the four; Buendia, Kamara and Mings have knee injuries whereas with Ramsey it's a toe injury.

Out: Boubacar Kamara, Emi Buendia, Emi Martinez, Jacob Ramsey, Nicolo Zaniolo, Tyrone Mings, and Youri Tielemans. Doubt: Alex Moreno.

Olympiacos team news

Ruben Vezo, Nelson Abbey, Giulian Biancone, Jovane, Ivan Brnic, Gelson Martins and Fran Navarro are all unavailable to Olympiacos. They have not been included in the Greek side's squad list that they had to confirm in February.

Spanish centre-forward Navarro on loan from FC Porto in January and has five goals in 15 games but will play no part. Gelson Martins was another that arrived on loan in the winter, this time from Monaco and he has made 12 appearances since joining them. Jovane was at Salernitana for the first part of the 2023/24 campaign having joined on loan from Sporting but joined Olympiacos at the end of January. The 25-year-old has been limited to just four appearances so far.

Brnic was a summer arrival from Maribor and would have missed out anyway as he has not made a match day squad since April 3. Biancone arrived in mid-September from Nottingham Forest signing a two-year deal but there was no room for him in their European squad. The 24-year-old has made 12 appearances so far for them but hasn't made the last three match day squads in the league.

England under-20 centre-back Nelson Abbey joined from Reading in January and has so far made four appearances. The 20-year-old is ineligible with there being no room to include him. Ruben Vezo arrived at around the same time from Levante and started for them at the weekend but there will be a change in defence on Thursday.

Centre midfielder Mady Camara has been out of action since January 21 after featuring in all of their Europa League group stage matches.

Centre-back David Carmo could be a doubt after not appearing against Pas Lamia in their 4-1 win on Sunday with the same said for Francisco Ortega and Vicente Iborra. Former Manchester City striker Stefan Jovetic was also absent though he did play in their midweke fixture against Aris Saloniki.

Andreas Ndoj will be missing as he picked up two yellow cards against Fenerbahce in the quarter-finals. Left-sided winger Georgios Masouras is another that will be absent through suspension. His yellow card against Fenerbahce saw him earn his third of the campaign and he will serve a one-match suspension.

Out: Andreas Ndoj, Fran Navarro, Gelson Martins, Georgios Masouras, Giulian Biancone, Ivan Brnic, Jovane, Mady Camara, Nelson Abbey and Ruben Vezo. Doubt: David Carmo, Francisco Ortega, Stefan Jovetic and Vicente Iborra.