Top dogs Hamburg await Villa

Hamburger SV will look to hold on to top spot in Group F as Aston Villa FC head to Germany for their final UEFA Cup group-stage game of 2008/09, with both sides mindful that AFC Ajax could yet steal their thunder on Matchday 5.

• Hamburg, Villa and Ajax are already sure of their UEFA Cup Round of 32 places, but with all three teams level on six points, the final round of games will decide who finishes where in the section – a crucial consideration for the draw for the next phase of the tournament.

• 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 sides who finished third in the UEFA Champions League groups. The UEFA Cup group winners and runners-up will play the second leg at home.

• Goal difference, then goals scored and then number of goals scored away from home will be the crucial factors in deciding the positioning after the final whistle, with Ajax taking on eliminated SK Slavia Praha in the day's other Group F fixture.

• Hamburg won 2-0 at Slavia on 4 December, while a second-string Villa side lost 2-1 at home against MŠK Žilina.

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

• Hamburg have played nine games against English sides, with their record reading W2 D2 L5. At home their record reads W2 D1 L1.

• Hamburg have lost two European finals against English opponents. They lost 7-1 on aggregate to Liverpool FC in the 1977 UEFA Super Cup and went down 1-0 to Nottingham Forest FC in the 1979/80 European Champion Clubs' Cup final.

• Villa manager Martin O'Neill was on the winning side in that latter match, played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.

• Villa have played three games against German sides, including the final of the 1981/82 European Cup, which ended in a 1-0 win against FC Bayern München in Rotterdam – their defining achievement in European competition.

• They won their only previous competitive game on German soil in their run to that final, beating Berliner FC Dynamo 2-1 in the second round. In total their record against Bundesliga sides reads W2 D0 L1.

• Hamburg trainer Martin Jol has featured in three European games against English sides – two as a coach and one as a player – and lost all of them.

• Jol coached in England at Tottenham Hotspur FC between 2004 and 2007. During that time, he took charge of seven games against Villa, with his record reading W2 D4 L1. He pitted wits against O'Neill in three of those games, with Tottenham winning one and the remaining two ending in draws.

• Jol's three games at Villa Park ended in a 1-0 defeat and two 1-1 draws.

• Villa's Wayne Routledge, who is currently on loan at Cardiff City FC, played under Jol during his time at White Hart Lane.

• O'Neill faced German opponents in four games as coach of Celtic FC, with his record reading W1 D1 L2. The draw and the win came at home.

• He also played five games against German sides as a Forest player, with his record reading W3 D1 L1. He was a member of the Northern Ireland side that beat West Germany 1-0 home and away in 1984 UEFA European Championship qualifying.

• Two Hamburg players have experience of English football. Guy Demel was at Arsenal FC in the 2000/01 season but did not make a league appearance, while Thimothée Atouba played under Jol at Tottenham in 2004/05.

• Hamburg have not won – or scored – at home in two UEFA Cup games this season, drawing 0-0 and losing 1-0. They have won just once in their last five European home games with their record reading W1 D3 L1.

• Villa are unbeaten in their last five European away games, with their record reading W3 D2 L0. They have never lost away in Europe under O'Neill.

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

• The draw for the UEFA Cup Round of 32 (when teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other) and Round of 16 will be held at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon on Friday 19 December at 13.00CET.