Villa within sight of the last 32

A draw at home against MŠK Žilina will be enough to confirm Aston Villa FC's passage to the Round of 32 while the Slovakian side need a win in Birmingham and a few favours on Matchday 5 if they are to make the same journey.

• Villa were not in action on Matchday 3, but having picked up six points in their opening two fixtures, are within touching distance of qualification.

• Žilina, meanwhile, are playing their final Group F tie and need a win combined with a draw or a defeat for Hamburger SV at SK Slavia Praha, to go into Matchday 5 with a shot at progressing. Then they would require Villa to beat Hamburg and AFC Ajax to beat Slavia to have a chance of finishing third with a superior goal difference to the other side with four points.

• This is Villa and Žilina's first meeting in UEFA club competition.

• Žilina will not be the first Slovakian club to come to Villa Park. Villa played ŠK Slovan Bratislava in the first round of the 1993/94 UEFA Cup, drawing 0-0 in Bratislava and winning 2-1 at home, thanks to goals from Dalian Atkinson and Andy Townsend.

• Žilina have played one tie against an English side before, but failed to score a goal, losing 2-0 at home and 3-0 in London against Chelsea FC in the third qualifying round of the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League.

• Villa manager Martin O'Neill has never faced Slovakian opposition before, but one of his current squad – who also played for him when he was in charge at Celtic FC – will have some miserable memories of a previous trip to Slovakia.

• Stiliyan Petrov played in both legs of a 2005/06 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round tie as Celtic, in their first European tie under Gordon Strachan, lost 5-0 against FC Artmedia Petržalka in Bratislava, bowing out despite a 4-0 return-leg win in Glasgow.

• Žilina coach Dušan Radolský has some fond memories of his previous meetings with English sides. He was coach of Polish side Groclin Grodzisk Wielkoposki when they knocked Manchester City FC out of the 2003/04 UEFA Cup on away goals, drawing 1-1 in Manchester and 0-0 at home.

• Radolský was also the coach of the Slovakia side which beat an England selection featuring Villa's Luke Young 2-0 at the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Bratislava.

• That England side also featured one-time Villa hero Lee Hendrie, now at Blackpool FC, as well as future England stars like Jamie Carragher (Liverpool FC), Frank Lampard (Chelsea) and Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur FC).

• Defeat at Ajax on Matchday 2 ended a run of six European away games without a loss for Žilina.

• Villa are unbeaten in their four European home games this season, having earned two wins and two 1-1 draws.

• Villa boast a prominent Slovakian connection, having been coached by Josef Vengloš in the 1990/91 season.

• Slavia play HSV in Thursday's other Group F game. Ajax are the only side in the section not in action on Matchday 4.

• Villa's Craig Gardner is within a booking of a one-match ban.

• The draw for the UEFA Cup Round of 32 and Round of 16 will be held at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon on Friday 19 December at 13.00CET. Group winners will be paired with third-placed sides from other UEFA Cup sections, while second-placed finishers will be drawn against one of the eight clubs who finished third in the UEFA Champions League groups. The UEFA Cup group winners and runners-up will play the second leg at home. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.