Aston Villa arguably have the most difficult fixture schedule in the Championship over the Easter weekend.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce
Steve Bruce has suggested that Aston Villa are at a huge disadvantage over the Easter weekend due to the fact that they are playing on the Saturday unlike the rest of the division, the Birmingham Mail reports.
The majority of the Championship’s fixtures take place on Friday with Wigan taking on Barnsley the day before, but Villa have to wait until Saturday for their game with Reading.
That fixture will kick off less than 48 hours before the Villans take on Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday, and Bruce has hit out at those organising the fixtures.
“We have a difficult weekend coming up,” he said, as reported by the Mail.
“I cannot understand why we are being asked to play on the Saturday, while everyone else plays on the Friday.
“It’s certainly a huge advantage to play Friday-Monday than Saturday-Monday and I don’t know why we are playing on the Saturday.”
Unfortunately for Villa supporters, Bruce’s men appear to be a little too far back to really challenge for the play-off places this season, with 11 points separating them from sixth-place Sheffield Wednesday with five games to go, so the scheduling should not have too great an impact on their season.
But, of course, if Villa were really in the running for a top six spot still then Bruce would undoubtedly have every right to complain about having to play two sides – both of whom are challenging for promotion – in such a short space of time.
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