Manchester United will potentially face Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final later this month and Spurs' fixture at Aston Villa has been moved in anticipation of this
Aston Villa have slammed the decision to bring forward their Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur this month. Spurs are in line to reach the Europa League final against Manchester United on Wednesday, May 21.
United hold a comfortable 3-0 lead in their semi-final from the first leg against Athletic Bilbao and will look to finish the job at Old Trafford on Thursday (8pm kick-off). Spurs, meanwhile, lead Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in their semi-final, with the second leg taking place in Norway at the same time as United's match.
Tottenham were set to play Aston Villa in the league on Sunday, May 18 with a 2:15pm kick-off. The match would have taken place just several days before the Europa League final in Bilbao. Playing on the Sunday would have handed United a recovery time advantage of over 42 hours with the Reds' match against Chelsea recently rescheduled to be an 8:15pm kick-off on Friday, May 16.
It was reported that the Villans had objected to Spurs' proposal to move the game. Unai Emery's side are still in a battle for a spot in next season's Champions League and are keen to keep disruption to their schedule to a minimum.
But it was confirmed on Tuesday that Tottenham's trip to Villa Park will now take place on the same day as United's at Chelsea, with a 7:30pm kick-off.
And the decision has angered Villa's director of football operations Damian Vidagany. "Fixture changed and honestly, not happy," he posted on social media.
"But it could be even worse. We really pushed - everyone in the club at different levels - with solid and fair grounds to protect our fans (our main task and duty) and keep the Spurs match on Sunday. Nothing against Spurs.
"We didn't feel this support last season or this one. European football is not only demanding for English clubs on the verge of the finals."
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