Aston Villa Reserve Team Fixture List Announced: Hopeful for a Halloween Beatdown of Arsenal

In news that I am sure all of you were eagerly awaiting, the Aston Villa reserve team now has a schedule for its 22-game season. I don't know if the same rules apply about posting reserve league fixture lists as for the EPL fixture list, but to avoid any trouble, I direct your attention to this announcement on the official site.

That said, I feel no worry in giving you a few highlights of matches that most of us won't see. The season begins nine days after that of the first team with the youngsters taking on Blackburn at the Leigh Sports Village. I'll be honest with you by saying that half of the joy of this list is the venues. These teams will be playing in an entire village! Think of the twists this gives the game of soccer.

Another interesting venue hosts the last game of the season, with Aston Villa traveling to play Sunderland in the Academy of Light. This is, as I am sure you know, where young ultraviolet rays go to learn how to become visible light and someday fulfill their destiny as rainbows. It apparently has a cracking pitch, as well.

But the match that I am most looking forward to comes on Halloween, when Aston Villa take on Arsenal at home. You may remember last year's meeting between the two sides as being a match in which the young Lions beat the sniveling Gunner youth by a score of 10-1. We can only hope for a similar result this year in all of the reserve league matches. I also hope that Ted can find himself some young bloggers over at The Short Fuse. That way we could have a live-blog-off on Halloween and Slaky and I could crush them 10-1 in pageviews.

Should Aston Villa be in position to win the South Division, the playoff will be held on May 16. As much as the release of their schedule leads to a tongue-in-cheek tone, this really should be a fun group of players to watch. We'll be sure to have some coverage for you throughout the season.