MATCH RESCHEDULED: Aston Villa fixture against Cardiff City rescheduled as nightmare pile-up realised before Champions League round of 16
MATCH RESCHEDULED: Aston Villa fixture against Cardiff City rescheduled as nightmare pile-up realised before Champions League round of 16
Aston Villa’s fifth round FA Cup tie against Cardiff City has been scheduled for an 8pm kick-off on Friday,
February 28.
Under the lights and live on ITV1, Villa Park is bound to serve up another electric atmosphere as
Unai Emery’s side look to progress to the quarter-finals.
They beat Tottenham 2-1 at home in the fourth round having seen off another
Premier League side in West Ham in January.
The fixture move means that Villa will play five games in the space of just 13 days,
before playing two Champions League round of 16 legs either side of a trip to
Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, March 8.
After three home league games in a row over the next week against Ipswich Town,
Liverpool and Chelsea, Villa will then take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Tuesday, February 25.
Just two days later, they will then host Cardiff in the FA Cup,
meaning Emery will be forced to shuffle the pack and make changes to his starting XI.
The good news is that Villa will have an extended gap between playing in the FA Cup to then facing either Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, Club Brugge or Sporting away from home for their first round of 16 game in the Champions League.
Dortmund are likely to progress to the next round of the competition after beating Sporing 3-0 in Liston on Tuesday, while Europa League champions Atalanta have work to do to see off Brugge, after losing the first leg 2-1 in Belgium.
Emery will speak to the media on Friday afternoon and will be asked for updates on several players who have been injured of late, including Ezri Konsa, Ross Barkley, Tyrone Mings, Pau Torres, Matty Cash and Ollie Watkins.
Amadou Onana also missed Villa’s recent win over Spurs despite returning from injury in the defeat at Wolves earlier this month.
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