Do Aston Villa already have one foot in the Champions League knockout stage?

Aston Villa have moved closer to the Champions League knockout stage after defeating Norwegian side Viking 3-1 at Villa Park, maintaining a perfect record in the league phase. The result places Unai Emery's side second in the overall standings with nine points from three matches, trailing only Paris Saint-Germain. Ross Barkley opened the scoring from an Ibrahim Mbaye corner, Emiliano Buendia added a penalty, and an own goal by Henrik Heggheim sealed the win before Peter Christiansen scored a late consolation for Viking.

JJ Bull notes that Villa likely need seven more points from their final five league-phase matches to reach the typical 16-point threshold for automatic top-eight qualification. Villa achieved the victory despite severe defensive injuries that sidelined full-backs Matteo Ruggeri and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The win marked Villa's 12th consecutive home victory in European competitions, equalling past milestones set by Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.