Under 21 fixtures and venues for the coming season

Villa's Under 21 fixtures are out and it seems die-hard fans who want to see the development squad in action will have to hoof it over to Burton on five occasions this time.

Only the home games v Arsenal, West Brom, Newcastle and Brighton will take place at Villa Park, while there will two Monday lunchtime kick-offs at Bodymoor Heath.

The away fixture v the Baggies takes place at The Hawthorns.

Mon Aug 18	H	Stoke City	1pm	Bodymoor Heath
Mon Aug 25	A	Blackburn	7pm	Leigh Sports Village
Thur Sep 11	H	Arsenal	7pm	Villa Park
Mon Sep 22	A	Derby	1pm	Derby County Academy
Mon Sep 29	H	Bolton	1pm	Bodymoor Heath
Thur Oct 16	A	West Brom	7pm	The Hawthorns
Tue Oct 28	H	Wolves	7pm	Pirelli Stadium
Mon Nov 3	A	Newcastle	7pm	St James' Park
Mon Dec 1	H	Reading	7pm	Pirelli Stadium
Mon Dec 15	H	Middlesbrough	7pm	Pirelli Stadium
Mon Jan 5	A	Brighton	7pm	Amex Stadium
Fri Jan 9	A	Stoke	7pm	Moss Rose Ground
Mon Jan 26	H	Blackburn	7pm	Pirelli Stadium
Wed Feb 11	H	Derby	7pm	Pirelli Stadium
Mon Feb 23	A	Arsenal	7pm	Boreham Wood
Mon Mar 9	A	Bolton	7pm	Macron Stadium
Mon Mar 16	H	West Brom	7pm	Villa Park
Mon Apr 6	A	Wolves	7pm	AFC Telford
Mon Apr 20	H	Newcastle	7pm	Villa Park
Fri May 1	A	Reading	7pm	Madejski Stadium
Fri May 8	A	Middlesbrough	7pm	Riverside Stadium
Mon May 18	H	Brighton	7pm	Villa Park

Chesterfield 3 Villa 1 as it was tweeted

Match Preview: Chesterfield v Aston Villa

Who are we playing?
Chesterfield FC, Wednesday July 30th - 7.45pm

Where are we playing?
Chesterfield Football Club
1866 Sheffield Road,
Whittington Moor,
Chesterfield,
Derbyshire,
S41 8NZ

Can I go?
Allocation: 1,000ish
Prices: £15 [adults], £7[O65s], £7 [U16s]
On general sale


Easy to get to?
Just takes a hour on the train though the fare is ludicrously expensive.

If you're taking your motor, come off the M1 at Junction 29 and take the A617 towards Chesterfield. At the end of the dual carriageway at the edge of the town centre, hang a right onto the A61 towards Sheffield. At the first roundabout turn left and the stadium is down on the right

Can I watch it on telly?
Live on AVTV.

Villa attempted to screen the 2013 pre season friendlies that took place on British soil (and the one in Ireland) live on AVTV with mixed results. Mansfield was OK if basic (no replays).

Jo Guest

Big game?
Another chance for Lambert to assess what he's got and another chance for ex-bomb squad and fringe players to force their way into his thinking. With a few niggling injuries dogging the lads that went to the states, we'd hope that some of the lads he left behind (Carruthers, Robinson, Donacien) might get a sniff.

It's a great opportunity for Chesterfield's players to see how they measure up against Premier League opposition.

Do Chesterfield have any famous fans?
Well, theres former Page 3 stunna Jo Guest

Who's playing for us?
We'd imagine that if Jores Okore and Fabian Delph are nursing knocks then they won't be risked while we wait with anticipation to see whether Joe Cole can get some more game time under his belt after a thigh injury ruled him out of the Texan games.

Expect Lambert to continue to fully utilise his squad at this one.

Who's playing for them?
This is the side that held Leeds United to a 2-2 draw. We'd expect a similar line up for this game.

Chesterfield: Lee, Darikwa, Evatt (c), Cooper, Jones, Hird, Morsy, Ryan, O'Shea, Roberts, Doyle


Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

Harry Clifton

• We have beaten Chesterfield on 7 occasions and lost to them twice, there have been two draws.

• Our last meeting at their place saw us demolish them 4-0 thanks to two goals from Geoff Vowden and one a piece from Andy Lochhead and Chico Hamilton

• Our last defeat to Chesterfield was at Villa Park in October 1937 in front of a bumper 50,000 crowd. The Spirites won 2-0 thanks to a brace from Harry Clifton

Prediction
Chesterfield should be up for this but we should emerge victorious. Going for a 3-1 Villa win.

HIGHLIGHTS: Houston Dynamo 0-1 Aston Villa

LIVE VIDEO: Houston Dynamo v Aston Villa

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VIDEO: Aston Villa train at BBVA Compass Stadium | Houston Dynamo

Match Preview: Houston Dynamo v Aston Villa

Dynamo

Who are we playing?
Houston Dynamo
Saturday July 26th - 8.00pm CDT (Sunday 27th July 2.00am BST)

Where are we playing?
BBVA Compass Stadium
2200 Texas Ave,
Houston,
TX 77003,
United States

Can I go?
Seems to be a few tickets left...

Can I watch it on telly?
Good question. This one isn't live on AVTV but Houston Dynamo ARE screening the game via You Tube at http://www.houstondynamo.com/live


Big game?
Still a case of Paul Lambert trying a few things out and I doubt we'll get any real clues as to how we'll line up in the Premier League until the Parma game.

So this is very important from the players' point of view as they strive to get themselves into Lambo's thinking. Doubt it will be much of a spectacle from a fans point of view but Dallas certainly gave us a game.

Joe Cole

Who's playing for us?
Again, almost everyone will probably get a decent amount of minutes. Joe Cole is hugely unlikely to feature, nursing a thigh injury picked up at Mansfield.

Squad: Brad Guzan, Jed Steer, Shay Given, Matt Lowton, Alan Hutton, Jores Okore, Ciaran Clark, Philippe Senderos, Nathan Baker, Chris Herd, Joe Bennett, Kieran Richardson, Enda Stevens, Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood, Karim El Ahmadi, Leandro Bacuna, Gary Gardner, Charles N’Zogbia, Jack Grealish, Andi Weimann, Gabby Agbonlahor, Darren Bent

Who's playing for them?
Well they just signed DaMarcus Beasley who has been to an impressive four World Cups with the US of A. Can't see any other big names leaping at us from their roster...

Any useless stats?
We have no history against Houston Dynamo so no interesting snippets or stats for this section.

Sorry.

Prediction
Cheeky 2-1 win to the Villa