Aston Villa’s Premier League game against Crystal Palace has been given a bizarre kick off time – but the reason has now been explained.
England’s premier competition gets underway this week when defending champions Liverpool kick off their campaign against Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday evening.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, are one of the sides who have a more favourable fixture run at the start of the season, but do face a tough opener at home the Newcastle – though they will be without Alexander Isak.
In gameweek three, meanwhile, they will take on Crystal Palace at Villa Park in their second hand match of the season, but the kick off time and date has been changed to Sunday evening.
Instead of the Friday night that it was originally set for, it will now kick off 48 hours later. And the reason for that is because of the confirmation of Palace’s spot in the Conference League.
After losing their appeal at being kicked out of the Europa League, Oliver Glasner’s side will take part in Europe’s third-level competition, and will have to qualify to get there.
Aston Villa’s clash with Crystal Palace has been given a bizarre kick off time later this season
Two two sides will do battle towards the end of August, but the game has been put back 48 hours
CAS lawyers had promised to hand down a verdict by close of play on Monday. And they have subsequently sided with the governing body, in what will be a devastating blow to the FA Cup winners and their fans and a decision that could cost Palace up to £20m in lost revenue.
It is also likely to be welcomed at the City Ground, with the verdict confirmation that Nottingham Forest will take Palace’s place.
The Eagles had attempted to have their demotion overturned at the expense of either Forest or Lyon.
They were dropped into the third tier competition after a UEFA panel found that US businessman John Textor, whose Eagles Holdings company held a 43 per cent stake in the club, was in a position of influence at Selhurst Park.
His firm also owned French outfit Lyon, which qualified for the same competition. Lyon took priority, with only one MCO club allowed in, because they finished higher in their domestic league than FA Cup winners Palace.
As a result of the loss of appeal, though, Palace will take on either Fredrikstad of Norway or Midtjylland of Denmark in the qualifying round.
Those games will take place early on in the season, with the first leg to be played at Selhurst Park on August 21, which is a Thursday night. The return leg will be played a week later on August 28.
The fixture was also originally picked for television coverage, and it has been confirmed that it will still be shown on Sky Sports – just two days later.
Palace will play in the Conference League after being kicked out of the Europa League
Therefore, four games will be shown on Sky on the Sunday, with Brighton vs Manchester City and Nottingham Forest vs West Ham set for 2pm and Liverpool vs Arsenal scheduled for 4:30pm.
Fans were left fuming at the change. One posted on X: ‘Moved again!! Is this some sort of joke?’
Another added: ‘Nooooo, I’m flying over from the US and have a ticket for this. I leave the 31st!’
A third wrote: ‘7pm on a Sunday is a joke. Always us getting done over by these reschedules.’
