Overview
Aston Villa will continue their journey to prepare for the new season with a clash with Real Sociedad, in the context that coach Unai Emery is still completing the squad after a series of force changes.
Aston Villa had a favorable warm-up for the pre-season when they crushed Walsall 5-0, but immediately afterwards suffered a 1-2 defeat to Portuguese champion Porto. The confrontation with Real Sociedad is therefore considered an important test for Emery to assess the progress of his players.
After this match, the Villa Park team will depart for Asia, where they will successively face U19 Indonesia, Pathum United and Bayern Munich to complete the preparation process before the 2026-2027 season.
As the Europa League champion, Aston Villa is also aiming for the European Super Cup match against the reigning Champions League champion Paris Saint-Germain next month. The English team aims to win this title for the first time since 1982.
Last summer witnessed many changes at Villa Park. Two pillars Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers successively moved to Manchester United and Chelsea, forcing Emery to rebuild the squad.
In the opposite direction, Aston Villa has added Joao Gomes, Johan Manzambi, Modou Keba Cisse and Alejandro Garnacho. However, the Spanish strategist still wants to have more new players to help the team have enough depth for the race in the Champions League and Premier League.
On the other side, Real Sociedad also enters the new season with many expectations under Pellegrino Matarazzo. This coach has gone down in club history when he helped the Basque team win the Copa del Rey after a victory over Atletico Madrid in the final, and also won a ticket to the Europa League group stage.
Although only finishing 10th in La Liga last season, Real Sociedad aims to improve their performance in the new season. The team has gone through 3 friendly matches with one defeat against Pau, one draw against Racing Santander and a 2-1 victory over Wolves.
After the confrontation with Aston Villa, Real Sociedad will continue to meet Toulouse, Koln and Chelsea before entering the opening match of La Liga against Real Betis. Up to this point, defender Kazunari Kita is still the only new player of the team, while Matarazzo expects the board of directors to continue to strengthen the force before the official season starts.
Personnel situation
Aston Villa is likely to be without the services of Pau Torres, Alysson and Tammy Abraham due to injury.
In the opposite direction, Emi Buendia may reappear after being rested in the defeat to Porto to control the exercise volume.
On Real Sociedad's side, Alvaro Odriozola continues to be absent as he has not recovered from the anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered since November last year.
Two players Takefusa Kubo and Luka Sucic have returned to training after the post-World Cup break, but will not participate in the friendly match with Aston Villa because they need more time to regain their fitness.
Expected lineup:
Aston Villa: Bizot, Nedeljkovic, Cisse, Mings, Maatsen, Bogarde, Gomes, Bailey, Buendia, Lynch, Burrowes.
Real Sociedad: Remiro, Aramburu, Martin, Pacheco, Munoz, Aguirre, Turrientes, Zakharyan, Soler, Gomez, Oskarsson.
Score prediction: Aston Villa 1-2 Real Sociedad
The match between Aston Villa and Real Sociedad takes place at 1:30 am on July 29 (Vietnam time).
