Villa's potential fixture headache
- Published
There has been a lot of talk about FA Cup replays being scrapped, which was done because of the expanded European competitions.
But there are still potential problems.
Aston Villa have been drawn at home to Tottenham in the fourth round.
Spurs play the previous Thursday - 6 February - at Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.
In theory, that means the FA Cup tie at Villa Park should be played on Sunday, 9 February or Monday, 10 February.
But the midweek that follows is for Champions League play-offs. If Villa find themselves outside the top eight, they may have to play on 11 February.
Villa can deal with it by maintaining their current fifth spot.
But if they do not, they will not know when their play-off is scheduled for until Friday, 31 January.