Overview
- Manager Unai Emery and director Damian Vidagany publicly criticised the holiday fixture list, calling elements of it a “mystery.”
- Villa won 2-1 at Chelsea on Saturday and must return to London to face Arsenal on Tuesday before hosting Nottingham Forest on Saturday, creating roughly a 72–75 hour turnaround between away games.
- The club says it sought explanations from Premier League contacts about the sequencing and short recovery but has not received a response.
- Vidagany suggested the layout benefits teams who are not travelling over the period, highlighting that Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have back-to-back home matches.
- Emery questioned playing Arsenal for a second time before facing Forest for the first time, noting that a later matchday has been brought forward before matchday 19.