Confusion reigns over Aston Villa Friday game v Southampton – reports
Aston Villa are still unsure if their Friday night fixture against Southampton will go ahead with the Daily Mail and The Athletic giving different verdicts.
The Queen’s funeral on Monday (19 September) is set to cause policing problems across the country but The Athletic are reporting that it shouldn’t be an issue for the Villans at home to the Saints.
There is not expected to be many issues with the two sets of fans at Villa Park and West Midlands Police are thought to have given the green light for the game to take place.
But the Daily Mail have a different report which states that while policing won’t be an issue, a severe lack of Sky TV trucks due to the unprecedented coverage of the Queen’s passing could be.
They claim that the match could be postponed to ensure that Sky Sports can broadcast the game at another time but neither report has been confirmed yet.
Forget TV
If Sky Sports’ own incompetence is causing them problems then they will just have to deal with it and allow teams to play without their cameras in operation.
TV has dictated the Premier League and all of football for far too long and it’s time that the clubs stood up to it and carried on without them for one night.
Steven Gerrard will have his side mentally and physically ready to go for the visit of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s unpredictable Southampton and there has to be a cut-off where Sky can no longer intervene.
Aston Villa really need this game to go ahead too because they are struggling to find momentum and they need every opportunity to get things going while they still can.
Southampton will cause problems for the Villa backline and it is going to be a real test of the mettle of the entire team but if they can come through it with three points, the surge up the table can begin.
In other Aston Villa news, if the game does go ahead, Hasenhuttl will be without one of his best signings of the summer through injury.