Villa v Spurs brought forward over Europa final

To give Tottenham more time to get ready for their potential Europa League final appearance, the Premier League game against Aston Villa has been moved two days to May 16th.

Spurs were scheduled to arrive at Villa Park on May 18 at 14:15 BST, but the Premier League requested that the game be played sooner to allow Ange Postecoglou’s side to have more time to prepare if they reached the Europa League final on May 21.

In the semi-final, Tottenham are 3-1 ahead of Bodo/Glimt, and they could face Manchester United, who are 3-3 up in a tie with Athletic Bilbao, in the final. On Thursday, both second legs will be played.

Even if Postecoglou’s side are eliminated and do not advance to the final in Bilbao, the Spurs game will still be played at Villa.

Villa objected to the request for the change, noting that there is no Premier League precedent allowing clubs in Europe to relocate fixtures.

Due to their participation in the Champions League and FA Cup, Villa had played every three or four days in April, according to a report from BBC Sport at the time.

Another factor in the objection was that this was Villa’s final home game of the season and that it might have pre-planned family activation activities that wouldn’t be possible if the game were played on a school night.

The Premier League has confirmed that the game will begin at 19:30 BST on the following evening despite Tottenham’s initial request to move it to the evening of May 15.