Emiliano Martinez produced the save of the match midway through the second half to keep out Kenneth Taylor's left-footed strike that seemed destined for the back of the net.

The second leg is at Villa Park in a week's time as Villa manager Unai Emery will look to extend his quest for a fifth European trophy of his career.

Emery's side have been formidable at home this season and set a record of 15 consecutive home league wins, beating Treble winners Manchester City and Arsenal along the way and keeping eight clean sheets.

Ajax, meanwhile, failed to win any of their three away games in the Europa League this season before they dropped down into the Conference League.

Villa boss Emery said: "I'm happy, we didn't play well, we didn't control the game like we prepared and like we usually do but I accept that as well.

"For me now it's very important this result is open for next week and now we will try to do something different and try to respect them, because now we know them better.

"At Villa Park we need our moment next week and try to play and be more successful than today in our idea. We didn't deserve more than we got tonight."