Aston Villa get FA Cup semi-final boost after fixture date confirmed
Villa will have 24 hours longer to prepare for this month’s FA Cup semi-final than opponents Crystal Palace after both teams had fixtures moved.
Both club's scheduled Premier League matches for the weekend of their Wembley clash have been brought forward to the preceding midweek.
But while Villa will now travel to Manchester City on Tuesday April 22 (kick-off 8pm), Palace don’t head to Arsenal until the following night, Wednesday April 23.
The teams are due to meet at Wembley in the semi-final on either Saturday April 26 or Sunday April 27, with the date and kick-off time still to be confirmed by the FA.
Scheduling around the semi-final has been further complicated by the possibility of Villa playing in a Champions League semi-final the following midweek.
Unai Emery’s men face Paris Saint-Germain over a two-legged quarter-final which, if they win, would see them play the first leg of the semi final on either April 29 or April 30.
Villa had originally been scheduled to face City, who are among their rivals in the race for a top-five finish, on Monday April 28.
But that date was always going to be changed once both teams had progressed to the FA Cup semi-finals, with Pep Guardiola’s team due to take on Nottingham Forest at Wembley.
One option was to move the City-Villa match into one of the free midweek slots in the final fortnight in the Premier League season.
Yet that would have raised the prospect of one or both teams playing five matches across the last two weeks of the campaign, with the FA Cup final due to take place on Saturday May 17, a weekend when a full list of top-flight matches is scheduled.
Villa’s trip to Bournemouth, meanwhile, has been moved to a 5.30pm kick-off on Saturday May 10 for live broadcast on Sky Sports.
Emery’s team, who will play at least 11 more matches this season, are on a six-game winning run and next host Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
