Hibs' Aston Villa reward not Lee Johnson's focus ahead of Luzern test

Hibernian boss Lee Johnson is refusing to look ahead to a potential “Battle of Britain” clash with Aston Villa as he prepares to take on Luzern in Switzerland.

The Easter Road side are 3-1 up from the first-leg of their Europa Conference League qualifier and are looking to finish the job in Thursday’s return fixture.

But with a mouthwatering game against the English Premier League club awaiting the winner Johnson is not wanting his players to take their eye of the ball at the Swissporarena.

He said: “There will be no complacency going into this one, I know my team and I know how good they thought the opposition was, so that’s a factor in it.

“We can’t look ahead to the next round because there is just too much to do.

“We will have to defend as a team and we will have to attack as a team, we want to be able to break from a position of strength, so that parts really important, the connectivity, the relationships and the bit between the lines.

“It’s a game of football and there’s a lot that can happen in a game of football. We know what the prize is, but to keep our eye on the prize is to win the game, so we’ve got to narrow that focus on to this game and this game only.”

Hibs are also looking to make amends for a poor league start that has seen them lose their first two games against St Mirren and Motherwell.

Goals from Joe Newell, Dylan Vente and Jordan Obita gave the side a two-goal cushion after a memorable night in Edinburgh last week, but the manager expects the Swiss side to throw everything at them in front of a hostile home support.

Johnson also revealed that Jake Doyle-Hayes, Elle Youan and Josh Campbell are all doubts for the second leg.

He said: “We will find out a lot more today, there’s two or three that we are waiting on to see whether or not they have a chance to play, which is Elie, Josh and Jake.

“They are all still in my thoughts for starting the game, if you go through the individuals, Josh gives us that fitness and he does a lot of work in there in terms of mileage, if Jake is fit he gives us that bite and the character that we will need in a game like that and Elie offers a natural threat and when he’s not in the team you see how much of a threat he offers and it stands out even more.”