Villa face LOSC Lille for the first time in competitive football, Lille become the 149th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football, Villa’s 33rd continental European opponents and their third from France following their meetings with FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Stade Rennais F.C. in previous campaigns.

Villa score a crucial away goal through Ian Taylor but concede in the last minute to leave the tie in the balance. 

Goalkeeper Stefan Postma, 26, makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining from De Graafschap for £2,000,000 earlier this month to become the 762nd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Peter Crouch makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W3 D3 L4, 2 Goals and 3 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.00 games played so far in his Villa career.

In less positive news, Graham Taylor’s clear out of the Gregory era team continued as 30 year old midfielder Steve Stone is shown the door and follows Paul Merson to Portsmouth on a free transfer. Stone, seemingly underused by John Gregory despite his high fee signing from Forest, and then jettisoned early by Taylor, made 121 Appearances (86 Starts) across his 5 seasons with Villa to leave with a record of W42 D40 L39, 7 Goals, 13 Assists and 15 Bookings.