There’s been a slight change to the Aston Villa preseason script. As MOMS informed you in April, Villa CEO Christian Purslow had indicated that Villa were going to play a big European friendly on the continent, ahead of the Premier League season kicking off.
While Lazio is certainly a big name, Villa will not be flying to Rome though for the fixture.
The reason for switching away from the traditional dress rehearsal friendly at Villa Park, a week before the season kicks-off, is the major rebranding work that is to be underdone at Villa Park, including the building of ‘The Terrace’ hospitality in the Holte.
Why the fixture cannot be played in Rome is unclear, but with Villa requiring the extra time to refurbish Villa Park, they will entertain Lazio at the Poundland Stadium in Walsall.
Three paragraphs in and we’ve already had the sentences ‘hospitality in the Holte’ and ‘Lazio at the Poundland’. The Villa verse evidently gets stranger by the season.
Villa Preseason Fixture Dates
Unai Emry’s team will also play Walsall at Walsall’s Poundland Bescot Stadium, before jetting off to the USA for the Premier League Summer Series Tour. The game against the Saddlers will be on Saturday, July 15 with kick-off at 1pm.
Villa will play Lazio on Thursday, August 3 with kick-off at 7:30pm.
Tickets details will be released by the club at a later date.
In many ways, the idea of playing European opposition at the Bescot is good preparation for some of the potential grounds Villa may travel to in the Europa Conference League.
UTV
