Aston Villa criticizes Premier League schedule: ‘First time’

Unai Emery’s team will face Arsenal for the second time in December.

The Premier League‘s midweek round features an atypical configuration: several clubs will face the same opponents before completing the list of 19 rivals in the championship. This situation caught the attention of the Aston Villa coach and director, who highlighted the abnormality of the schedule.

Aston Villa’s scenario exemplifies the situation, as the team will face league leaders Arsenal for the second time this season and in the same month, even without yet having faced Nottingham Forest, who they will only face on Saturday (3). Unai Emery highlighted the rarity of the event in his professional career.

“It’s the first time in my 20-year coaching career that we’ve finished the first part of the season without facing all 19 teams. I don’t know why. That’s the only thing I can’t understand. But, of course, I accept it,” commented the Villans’ coach.

The club’s director of football, Damian Vidagany, used social media to express doubts about the criteria used to create the schedule. He pointed out that the current calendar ended up favoring the logistics of some teams, who avoided travel during the holiday period, while Villa had to play two away games in less than 72 hours.

“The fact is that, whether we like it or not, this makes the game schedule more convenient for certain clubs that aren’t traveling during this busy Christmas period. It would be a shame if the game schedule became a political arena,” the official pointed out.

The Premier League justifies the calendar model as being adopted to ensure a balanced sequence of home and away games throughout the competition. The league maintains frequent contact with clubs to accommodate specific date requests and emphasizes that there are no regulatory impediments to the rapid rescheduling of matches.

One of the organization’s priorities in scheduling the end-of-year rounds is to avoid a team that played away on Boxing Day (December 26th) having to travel again to play on New Year’s Day. The remaining games that complete the first-round matchups will be played next weekend, during the 20th round.

Saturday (3)

Sunday (4)