Aston Villa take on Crystal Palace on the weekend of the 26 and 27 of April in the semi-finals of the FA Cup
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Aston Villa will take on Crystal Palace at Wembley later this month for a place in the FA Cup final - and the game itself arrives in what could prove to be one of the biggest weeks of the club's recent history.
Villa progressed into the semi-finals this past weekend thanks to a Marcus Rashford brace and a Jacob Ramsey strike at Championship outfit Preston North End. Palace impressively won at Fulham by the same score-line, while Nottingham Forest and Manchester City will contest the other semi-final on the same weekend.
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The games will take place on the weekend of the 26 and 27 of April, but it remains to be seen exactly when which match will take place with the dates for either game yet to be confirmed by the relevant football authorities.
It's anticipated, though, that Villa's game is likelier to take place on the Saturday; with City knocked out of Europe by Real Madrid, Villa are the only side in the final four of the FA Cup who are, at the time of writing, still competing in a European competition.
Villa head to Paris Saint-Germain for the first leg of their Champions League quarter final tie with PSG next week (Wednesday 9), before they welcome the French champions back to Villa Park for the second leg on Tuesday 15. A place in the semi-finals of the Champions League is at stake.
We clearly don't know if Villa will be partaking in the semi-finals at this moment. The first leg will take place the week commencing 28 April, with the second leg coming a week later, the week commencing 5 May.
The governing bodies and TV companies can't afford to wait for confirmation, though, reports Mirror Football, and so Villa's cup tie with Palace could be prioritised in order to give them a chance to prepare for the Champions League semi-final first leg in the event they progress past PSG.
The BBC and ITV will go through their picks in the next day or so and that means the Villa-Palace game may have to be scheduled on the Saturday in case they are indeed in action against another stellar European side the week following.
For Palace, that could mean a less than convenient situation; they were meant to play Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium that weekend prior to progressing into the semi-finals, and one of the dates reportedly being discussed for the rescheduled fixture is the Tuesday or Wednesday in the lead up to the semi-final at Wembley.
Aston Villa's potential fixture list for the rest of the season
Brighton (A) - Wednesday 2 April
Nottingham Forest (H) - Saturday 5 April
PSG (A) - Wednesday 9 April
Southampton (A) - Saturday 12 April
PSG (H) - Tuesday 15 April
Newcastle (H) - Saturday 19 April
Crystal Palace (N) - Saturday 26 April [Unconfirmed]
Champions League semi-final first leg (?) - Tuesday 29 April
Manchester City (A) - New date TBD
Fulham (H) - Saturday 3 May
Champions League semi-final second leg (?) - Tuesday 6 May
Bournemouth (A) - Saturday 10 May
FA Cup final (?) - Saturday 17 May
Tottenham (H) - Sunday 18 May
Manchester United (A) - Sunday 25 May
Champions League final (?) - Saturday 31 May
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