Aston Villa FC

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• Manager:Gerard Houllier

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O'Neill irked by fixture rejection

06 Mar 2010 - 12:52:15

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Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has revealed his frustration after failing to persuade the Premier League to help ease the fixture congestion on the Midlands club.

Villa asked to postpone some of their midweek fixtures in March after citing their involvement in the latter stages of the FA Cup and Carling Cup as reasons for slipping behind in the number of league matches they have played.

But despite claiming their bid for a top-four finish could be undermined by a fixture pile-up in March, seventh-placed Villa's request has fallen on deaf ears.

"We have got no midweek games in April at the moment but something like 7,000 in March as things stand," explained O'Neill.

"Because we have played as many games as anyone else in the Premier League in the last two months, with replays and League Cup semi-finals, we asked the Premier League for a bit of help.

"With the worse scenario, even if we got through the Reading (FA Cup) tie (on Sunday) after a replay and had to change the date of the Everton league game, there was still time in April to fit things in.

"But the Premier League want to get the fixtures in during March so we've got plenty of time to repent during April. There is no leeway for us at all."