Aston Villa have suggested to the Premier League that it reviews its scheduling of fixtures for teams playing in Europe.
In a conversation with the Premier League, Villa made observations as to how the Premier League could help English teams manage the fixture list, but there has not been an official request for a specific game to be moved.
Instead, the suggestion was informally put forward earlier in the season, with Villa citing last month’s game at home to Tottenham Hotspur as a case in point.
The fixture was put forward to a 1pm kick off on Sunday – at the request of the police, with Liverpool vs Manchester City rearranged for a later start time – giving Villa a shorter amount of time to recover from their goalless draw away to Ajax three days earlier.
Villa’s suggestion was to move their game back – also given the importance of the fixture – to Monday night, affording additional rest time between fixtures.
Despite no formal complaint to the Premier League, Villa also view the difference in schedule with upcoming Conference League opponents Lille as another illustrative point.
Lille have a week between games, with no league match between the two legs against Villa. Emery’s side, meanwhile, will travel to Arsenal on Sunday. In addition, Lille’s previous match – a 3-1 win against Marseille – was on a Friday evening, giving Paulo Fonseca six days to prepare for the visit to Villa Park.
Villa view their suggestions as something for the Premier League to consider in the future, providing a similar level of support Ligue 1 offers for their domestic clubs competing in Europe, creating additional rest time between games.
Head coach Unai Emery was reluctant to use scheduling concerns as an excuse for his players ahead of Villa’s first European quarter-final in 26 years. He did, though, state the Premier League “can support us.”
“We are speaking about the match tomorrow, we are in a conference speaking about the match tomorrow,” said Emery. “We were thinking the amount we are going to play (against Arsenal) it’s not good for us, for me and for everybody.
“I think it’s better for the English team (to have games rescheduled either side of European fixtures). We are playing in Europe, I think the Premier League can support us as well. But it’s not concerning me.”
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