Aston Villa moved closer to automatic qualification in the Europa League after second-half substitute Youri Tielemans scored the decisive goal in a 2-1 win over FC Basel.
The victory puts Villa three points clear inside the top eight with two matches left, guaranteeing at least a playoff place.
Evann Guessand fired Villa ahead early with a smart finish after Basel failed to clear a corner. The hosts thought they had equalised through Leo Leroy, but VAR intervened for offside.
Moments later, Flavius Daniliuc made no mistake, beating Marco Bizot to a Xherdan Shaqiri delivery to level the match.
Unai Emery turned to Tielemans at the break, and the Belgian changed the game almost instantly.
Eight minutes after coming on, he swept a crisp one-touch finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box after a neat setup from Emi Buendía.
Villa had chances to extend their lead, but Jadon Sancho’s low effort was saved, while Basel threatened late on.
Ibrahim Salah headed goalward from close range, only for Morgan Rogers to produce a crucial block that preserved Villa’s win.
Basel pushed hard but couldn’t stop Villa ending their seven-game Europa League home winning streak, while Emery’s side stretched their own run to eight straight victories in all competitions.
