Two days till 16 May have been scheduled for Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League game against Aston Villa so they may have more time to be ready for their prospective Europa League final participation.
Originally set to visit Villa Park on May 18 at 14:15 BST, Spurs asked the Premier League to have the game moved up so Ange Postecoglou’s team would have more time to get ready should they make it to the Europa League final on May 21.
Tottenham might meet Manchester United, who are 3-0 in their encounter with Athletic Bilbao, in the final; they are 3-1 ahead in their semi-final against Bodo/Glimt. Thursday will be the second legs’ playing day.
The date of Spurs’ encounter at Villa will remain the same even should Postecoglou’s team be eliminated and fail to make it to Bilbao’s final.
Villa opposed to the change, pointing out no precedence for the Premier League to relocate events to assist clubs engaged in European play. Villa has participated in the Champions League and FA Cup, so playing every three or four days during April.
Another reason for the resistance was that Villa’s last home game of the season may have several pre-planned family activation events that would not be feasible should the game take place on the evening of a school night.
Originally requesting the game to take place on May 15’s evening, Tottenham later asked that the Premier League shift it to the next evening, 19:30 BST.
The game Manchester United plays against Chelsea on the same evening will start at 20:15 BST, so the two potential Europa League finalists will have the same degree of recovery time.
