Aston Villa have seven games from December 1 to January 1.
Speaking to Aston Villa’s official website, Steve Bruce has commented on the “ridiculous” schedule awaiting Championship teams in December.
Aston Villa, like all Championship clubs, will play seven league matches over a 31-day period in a hectic cluster of fixtures which will mean that Bruce must rotate his squad heavily over the next month.
Bruce’s side are a team bang in form and Saturday’s 2-0 win over Ipswich Town was the Villans’ eighth victory from their last 11 Championship games.
Consequence of their brilliant form, Villa are fourth in the table, two points off an automatic promotion spot at the moment, and the veteran manager knows how important it is that his troops weather the winter storm of fixtures.
“It’s a massive time for every club,” he told Aston Villa’s website of the hectic schedule. “The schedule is ridiculous, but that’s what we do…us English.
“We’ll all try and enjoy Christmas somehow. It’s a lot of games every week, but we’ll get on with it.”
Villa have Jonathan Kodjia, John Terry, Jack Grealish and Henri Lansbury out at the moment, while Mile Jedinak will wait to discover the extent of his shoulder injury suffered on Saturday.
In short, Bruce already has a depleted squad to contend with and their hectic fixture list is quite worrying when you consider that rotation is going to be of paramount importance.
Still, this isn’t Bruce’s first rodeo – he knows a thing or two about the Championship and its Christmas period so you have to imagine his experience could stand the Villans in good stead when it comes to emerging unscathed.
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