Friday’s briefing: Aston Villa closing in on Europa League qualification

Aston Villa moved a step closer to automatic qualification in the Europa League with a 2-1 win at Basel.

Nottingham Forest boosted their own hopes of a top-eight finish after beating Utrecht 2-1 away.

There was, though, disappointment for Celtic after a 3-0 defeat by Roma at Parkhead, while Rangers slipped to a 2-1 loss away to Ferencvaros.

Crystal Palace kept up their push for a top-eight finish in the Conference League standings with a 3-0 win over Shelbourne in Dublin, but Aberdeen are out after slipping to a 1-0 home defeat against Strasbourg.

In-form Aston Villa on brink

Substitute Youri Tielemans hit the winner to help Aston Villa move a step closer to automatic qualification in the Europa League with a 2-1 win at Basel.

Villa are now three points clear inside the top eight with two matches to play – and guaranteed a play-off spot at the very least.

Evann Guessand got Villa off to a dream start before Leo Leroy saw a goal ruled out for offside, but Flavius Daniliuc equalised moments later.

Tielemans replaced Matty Cash at the break and it only took him eight minutes to make his mark when he restored Villa’s lead with a neat finish as Unai Emery’s side stretched their impressive winning run to eight matches in all competitions.

Forest leave it late

A late goal from substitute Igor Jesus sealed Nottingham Forest a 2-1 Europa League win in Utrecht and boosted their own hopes of a top-eight finish in group phase.

Arnaud Kalimuendo’s second-half opener for Forest was cancelled out by Mike van der Hoorn before Jesus stepped off the bench to fire the visitors’ late winner with just two minutes left.

Forest bounced back from last weekend’s disappointing defeat at Everton to secure their third win in this season’s competition and move on to 11 points after six matches.

More misery for new Bhoys’ boss Wilfried Nancy

Wilfried Nancy became the first Celtic manager to lose his opening two games as Roma won 3-0 at Parkhead.
Celtic trailed by three goals going into the break as Evan Ferguson netted twice to add to an early own goal from Republic of Ireland team-mate Liam Scales.

Arne Engels missed a penalty in first-half stoppage time before Celtic improved following a triple substitution at the break.

Celtic, though, could not make inroads as both sides had second-half goals disallowed for offside following VAR interventions, leaving the Bhoys on seven points with two games remaining.

Euro woes continue for Rangers

Danny Rohl’s Rangers again found the Europa League too much of a burden with a 2-1 defeat by Ferencvaros in Budapest.

Bojan Miovski scored an acrobatic opener in the 27th minute with the visitors’ first shot on goal before Bence Otvos had Robbie Keane’s side level in added time at the end of the first half.

The Light Blues offered almost nothing of an attacking threat after the break and succumbed again in the 73rd minute when Ferencvaros striker Barnabas Varga easily headed in from close range to leave the Scottish side effectively out of the tournament.

Eagles stay on course for last 16

Crystal Palace boosted their hopes of securing a top-eight finish in the Conference League standings after coasting to a 3-0 win over Shelbourne following a dominant first half at the Tallaght Stadium in Dublin.

Christantus Uche marked his first Palace start with an early opening goal, before Eddie Nketiah and Yeremy Pino put the Premier League side in total control ahead of the break.

Palace – looking to avoid a play-off round in February – could have added to their tally in the second half, but substitute Romain Esse saw his shot come back off both posts.

Oliver Glasner’s side have nine points and sit ninth, just one point behind a group of five teams above them, ahead of a final league-phase fixture at home to KuPS of Finland.

Elsewhere, Martial Godo’s first-half strike proved enough to give table-toppers Strasbourg a 1-0 win at Aberdeen, who are out of the competition with one match of the league phase to play.

What’s on today?

In the Sky Bet Championship, Sheffield United will look to pull further clear of the relegation zone when they head to West Brom.

Several Premier League clubs are holding press conferences – including Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City along with Chelsea and Tottenham.