Aston Villa have announced that we’ll face Valencia in a pre-season fixture at the Mestalla on Saturday, August 5, with a 9pm KO time [CEST].
It will be our final pre-season outing ahead of facing Newcastle Utd in our Premier League opener on August 12, and it’s a good test to not only prepare the players for a tough start to the campaign, but also for our Europa Conference League playoff round later in the month.
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The two teams will play for the Orange Trophy, which the club notes in their official statement, is a prestigious annual pre-season competition that has been going since 1959, and with Unai Emery’s ties to his former club, he’ll know the significance and history of it and will want to sign off on pre-season in positive fashion.
As seen below, Villa’s schedule this summer will hopefully offer the ideal balance to get us up to speed and in top condition for the start of the new season, particularly with that trip to the USA in July, which will form the bulk of our preparations.
However, it’s important that we also gain experience and a feel for playing against top European sides too if we want to enjoy a lengthy run in the UECL next season, and while it’s not competitive action, it’s still crucial for the players to take things away from it and continue to learn about the tempo and European style.
It’s unclear if that now completes our plans or if additional fixtures will still be added, but that’s a fairly stacked schedule already, and so the countdown begins to see the Villa boys back in action this summer as we try to build on our brilliant finish to last season.
Aston Villa 2023 pre-season schedule so far [local times]:
July 15: Walsall [A] – 1pm
July 23: Newcastle Utd [Philadelphia] – 7pm
July 26: Fulham [Orlando] – 7pm
July 30: Brentford [Maryland] – 12pm
August 3: Lazio [Bescot Stadium] – 7.30pm
August 5: Valencia [Mestalla] – 9pm