OLIVER Glasner believes Aston Villa have been handed an unfair advantage in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday after the Premier League rejected Crystal Palace’s request to have their midweek fixture against Arsenal moved.
Unai Emery’s Villa lost 2-1 to Manchester City on Tuesday night, with the Eagles heading to the Emirates for an 8pm kick-off on Wednesday night.
That gives them just two full days to recover and prepare for the 5.15pm kick-off on Saturday as they chase a first-ever FA Cup title.
The Gunners played at Ipswich Town on Sunday, meaning they couldn’t play Tuesday. The game on Wednesday had also been selected for live coverage on Sky Sports.
“Yes, we wanted it [moved], but sometimes you are shouting against the wind and nobody hears you,” Glasner said. “I don’t want to complain about fixtures but I think it’s not the best choice from the Premier League.
“Villa play [Tuesday] and we play [Wednesday] – fair would be if both teams were playing on the same day, on Tuesday or on Wednesday. At this stage of the season it can influence if you have two or three days to rest. But we have to accept it and I’m pretty sure we will be top fit on Saturday.”
Glasner rejected the idea he was going to make wholesale changes against Arsenal given the quick turnaround to the weekend.
“My approach is clear: nothing changes [against Arsenal]” he said. “It’s the players’ approach, and I spoke to them. If someone believes they have to save their energy for Saturday then it would be quite easy, but they said ‘no’ and want to show our style, identity and who we are by giving our best.
“We could put out the under-21s so we can train for the Villa game. But that is not what we want.”
Glasner was leaning on previous experience. He said: “When I was a younger manager in Austria I played a midweek cup tie against a non-league team and we had a derby at the weekend. I changed eleven players for the cup game but we were awful but everything went how we planned and we went through to the next round and every player was fit for the derby. But we went on to lose the derby 2-0 and I said I would never do it again.”
Palace defender Chris Richards returns for the Villa showdown after serving a one-match ban for his red card in the 0-0 draw against AFC Bournemouth at Selhurst Park last weekend.
