Aston Villa and Liverpool are due to face off during a busy February for both clubs, though Unai Emery and Arne Slot will both enjoy a quieter time of things in March
The Premier League has left Aston Villa frustrated after refusing to relieve their fixture congestion by rescheduling a meeting with Liverpool.
Villa had been due to take on Liverpool on the weekend of March 15, but a new date needed to be found after Arne Slot’s team booked their spot in the Carabao Cup final that same weekend. Unai Emery’s men are understood to have wanted the game moved to late March, but instead it will be held on February 19.
The rescheduling leaves Villa with five games to play between now and the end of the month. They’re up against Ipswich this weekend, with the Liverpool game followed by league fixtures against Crystal Palace and Chelsea before an FA Cup meeting with Cardiff on February 28.
It means Emery’s team will play just once in the league in March, against Brentford on the eighth of the month, with Liverpool’s only March league match seeing them host Southampton. Both teams will also play in the Champoins League in March, but effors to push the game back have fallen flat.
According to The Telegraph, the Premier League’s decision to block a date change has been met with frustration from last season’s fourth-place finishers. Villa avoided an extra round of Champions League football by finishing eighth in the league phase, but will now take on Liverpool on the same night several other teams play the second leg of their European play-offs.
The Reds finished top of the pile in Europe, and will also move straight through to the round of 16. That freed them up to take on Everton on Wednesday in a rearranged fixture, with that match ending all-square after a late equaliser from James Tarkowski
Slot’s men moved seven points clear at the top thanks to that point. They’re up against Wolves this weekend, while closest challengers Arsenal are away at Leicester.
Was the Premier League right to keep Aston Villa vs Liverpool on February 19? Have your say in the comments section
Villa also have a number of injury concerns as they approach the tricky run of fixtures. Ezri Konsa joined Tyrone Mings on the treatment table, leaving Emery short on options at the back, but deadline day signing Axel Disasi could make his debut after watching fellow new recruits Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio get minutes in the FA Cup fourth round.
The challenge for the players we joined last month, of course, they are very good players,” Emery told reporters ahead of Saturday’s game against Ipswich. “The challenge we have with them and the challenge they have individually as well with us is a high, high challenge. I am very excited, they are working very well.
I think the first match we played together last week against Tottenham at home, at Villa Park with our supporters, was a very exciting moment we shared there. Tomorrow is again a very good opportunity for the team, for the players, for the supporters, how we can face tomorrow a Premier League match with the players we have and with the idea, style we want to try to get, performing of course but as well trying to transmit something. Tomorrow in Villa Park is a really exciting match.”
