Unai Emery singles out Jordan Henderson as a threat as Aston Villa prepare to host Ajax in the Europa Conference League… and suggests his side must adapt to ‘stop their game plans’ in warning to players

Unai Emery has warned Aston Villa to be wary of Jordan Henderson as his side try to advance in Europe at the expense of Ajax on Thursday.

Henderson will try to guide the Dutch giants into the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League at Villa Park following a goalless draw in Amsterdam last week.

The former England captain is back in Europe after just six months with Saudi club Al-Ettifaq, where he was thought to earn about £700,000 week following his departure from Liverpool last summer.

‘Henderson is an example of how important it is to Ajax to stay in this competition,’ said Emery. ‘He knows how English teams play and he played fantastically in the first leg.

‘Tomorrow we have to be ready to stop their game plans, and their young, talented players like Jorrel Hato. This is the respect we have for them.’

Unai Emery outlined Jordan Henderson as a threat and claimed is side must ‘stop the game plans’ of Ajax

Henderson joined Ajax in January but has only won one of his seven games so far with them

Villa will have John McGinn on Thursday but will then be without their captain for three league matches following his straight red card in the 4-0 home defeat by Tottenham on March 10.

McGinn’s wild challenge on Spurs defender Destiny Udogie in the second half means Villa are without a key player at a vital stage of the season, but Emery said: ‘I can’t say anything (bad) about our discipline and tomorrow we will have McGinn. Against Ajax we will try to show determination to put it right and be competitive.’

Villa remain one of the favourites to win the Conference League but Emery countered: ‘It doesn’t help to be favourites. We didn’t show it in the first leg.’