Explained: What Aston Villa need to qualify in the Champions League top eight
Aston Villa passed up a sizeable opportunity to all but book their place in the Champions League top eight on Tuesday night, as they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat away at AS Monaco. Wilfried Singo scored the only goal of the game inside the opening ten minutes to leave Villa clinging onto eighth spot - for now.
The Lions have won four of their seven games and sit on 13 points, a notable achievement in itself considering it's Villa first campaign back at Europe's top table for more than 40 years, but that'll be no consolation to Unai Emery, who was visibly annoyed after only their second defeat.
To seal automatic progression to the last 16 of the competition, and avoid a play-off, Villa now need to ensure that they beat Celtic - that is likely a non-negotiable - next Wednesday in their eighth and final group stage match at Villa Park, while hoping for results elsewhere to go their way. As is the case on the final day of the domestic season, all 18 UCL fixtures will take place on the same day and at the same time next week.
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Villa might not enter into the Celtic clash in their current position, though; a bunch of sides below them are in action tonight and have the chance to leapfrog them, so Villa could yet end up a number of positions lower down the mammoth table than where they find themselves at the time of writing.
Brest head to Shakhtar Donetsk at 5:45pm, while Bayern Munich visit Feyenoord and AC Milan entertain Girona tonight. If any of Brest, Bayern or Milan win, they will categorically jump above Villa. If Brest or Bayern draw - Brest are currently on the same points as Villa and Bayern have a superior goal difference - then a point will be enough to dislodge the Lions, too.
Sporting Lisbon are also in action against RB Leipzig, who have lost all six of their group games. The Portuguese side are down in 19th, but could hop above Villa if they win by three clear goals. There are a queue of sides below Villa who are eyeing the spot they occupy and they'll need favours with their own situation out of their hands.
The table as it stands
8. Aston Villa Pld 7 Pts 13 GD 5
9. Brest Pld 6 Pts 13 GD 4
10. Monaco Pld 7 Pts 13 GD 3
11. Lille Pld 7 Pts 13 GD 2
12. Bayern Munich Pld 6 Pts 12 GD 9
13. Borussia Dortmund Pld 7 Pts 12 GD 8
14. Juventus Pld 7 Pts 12 GD 4
15. AC Milan Pld 6 Pts 12 GD 3
16. PSV Pld 7 Pts 11 GD 3
17. Club Brugge Pld 7 Pts 11 GD -2
18. Benfica Pld 7 Pts 10 GD 2
19. Sporting Lisbon Pld 6 Pts 10 GD 2
The key fixtures in the final round
Wednesday 22 January
Shakhtar Donetsk v Brest
Feyenoord v Bayern Munich
AC Milan v Girona
RB Leipzig v Sporting Lisbon
Wednesday 29 January
Aston Villa v Celtic
Bayern Munich v Slovan Bratislava
PSV v Liverpool
Brest v Real Madrid
Dinamo Zagreb v AC Milan
Juventus v Benfica
Manchester City v Club Brugge
Lille v Feyenoord
Sporting v Bologna
Inter Milan v Monaco
Borussia Dortmund v Shakhtar Donetsk
