Aston Villa will benefit from playing two fewer games in the New Year after securing their place in the Round of 16 in the Europa Conference League with a 1-1 draw against Zrijnski Mostar this evening.
Skipper John McGinn made an instant inpact from the bench, setting up Nicolo Zaniolo for his first goal since arriving in England on loan from Villareal.
Aston Villa came into the match needing only to avoid defeat to secure their place in the last 16 and carrying a record of just one loss in their last 14 games.
Unai Emery took the opportunity to get minutes in the legs of some of his extended squad members, with the likes of Emiliano Martinez, McGinn and Ollie Watkins starting the match on the bench.
Zrinjski, meanwhile, managed just three points in the group stages and were hoping to sign off from Europe with a positive result.
However, the hosts had by no means been poor in the competition, as they were only narrowly beaten by Villa in October and came back to beat AZ Alkmaar 4-3 from 3-0 down, back in week one of the competition.
The first chance of the match fell the way of the Premier League side, but Zaniolo fired his effort over the crossbar, although he continued to look like the most attacking player on the pitch for the visitors in the early stages.
The first quarter of an hour lacked in quality from Villa but with eight changes made to the starting 11, it was no real surprise that they were not in their usual rhythm during the early exchanges.
By the half-hour mark, Emery's men (188) had completed over five times as many passes as Zrinjski (32), but they did not created anything of substance despite their 74% possession.
The first half as a whole could be described as dull, and while Villa managed six shots at goal and four on target, none looked likely to beat Marko Maric in the Zrinjski goal.
It was at the break in the reverse fixture that Emery seemed to have had enough and made a triple substitution to good effect, but the Spaniard held off until just before the hour mark this time before sending on McGinn and Lucas Digne in place of Alex Moreno and Jacob Ramsey.
Digne will not be eligible to play against Brentford due to suspension and the time on the pitch would have done Moreno wonders since he is likely to make his first start of the league season at the weekend.
However, it was the captain who made the instant impact following his introduction, whipping in a pin-point cross to Zaniolo, who brought it down expertly and stroked in for his first goal for the Premier League outfit.
Zrinjski's first real chance of the evening came in the 72nd minute when a corner fell kindly for Josip Corluka, but he snatched at the shot and saw his effort fly wide of the post.
Emery opted to withdraw the likes of Matty Cash and Pau Torres after that, handing a senior debut to Tommi O'Reilly a day before he turns 20.
While many would have thought the match was done and dusted, the hosts were determined to make it a grandstand finish and leveled proceedings through Matija Malekinusic, who fired a stunning long-range effort into the top corner.
Villa had a few scares in the closing stages but managed to see out the match to end at the top of their group and in good shape heading to the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon. body check tags ::
