Final Domestic Pre-Season Game
Aston Villa’s trip to the Valley seems to have gained its origins from when Villa and Charlton negotiated the loan of Jed Steer in the first part of last season. Loaning out both Steer to Charlton and Tommy Elphick to Hull City won’t go down as Steve Bruce’s greatest management decisions, considering Villa’s issues in those positions at the time.
Still, what happened since then is history as they say, and Villa are now very much a club transformed.
The same can be said about Charlton Athletic, who like Villa, also won a EFL play-off final last season, as Lee Bowyer lead his men back to the Championship after a three-year absence.
Again, like Villa, they won their play-off semi-final on penalties, as they knocked out Doncaster Rovers, before beating Sunderland in the final 2-1, with an injury-time winner.
Villa have failed to win on their last three trips to the Valley in competitive matches, their last visit a 2-1 loss in the 2006/07 Premier League season. Villa’s last win there was a 2-1 win back in the 2003/04 season, which was sandwiched between two 3-0 losses at the London club’s ground.
There’s no doubt the trip to the Championship team will be Villa’s toughest pre-season test so far, as they gear up for their match in Germany next weekend.
Kick-off for today’s friendly is 3pm
Watch the Match
Aston Villa Line-up
Starting XI: Steer, Elmohamady, Konsa, Mings, Taylor, Hourihane, McGinn, Grealish, El Ghazi, Trezeguet, Davis.
Subs: Kalinic, Hause, Bree, Guilbert, Engels, Targett, Lansbury, Jota, Green, Hogan.
Doesn’t look like a Bjorn Engels and Tyrone Mings partnership is set in stone, good chance for Konsa to shine today.
Aston Villa Away Shirt Discount
The new Kappa Aston Villa away kit became available for pre-order today and like the home shirt comes in both a regular (£55) and player issue ‘elite’ fit (£80). It’s not exactly on the cheap side, so if you are in the market for one, use the following code and link to get 10% off your purchase.
Use the code AVFCAFFIL10 for 10% off
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