Rescheduled QPR match makes for hellish first week of April

As things stood, the matches before the FA Cup semi-final were going to be tough on Aston Villa. Trips to Manchester United and Tottenham in consecutive weeks were not places many of us were expecting to see points. Well now, thanks to the trip to Wembley, that week is getting even worse. The match against Queens Park Rangers, which had originally been planned for April 20 has been moved to Tuesday, April 7.

Now the week has three matches in eight days, with the most important one being on short rest in the middle of things. QPR's visit to Villa Park is a match that the club really must win. QPR are terrible on the road this year, and it's a perfect opportunity for Villa to pick up three points and put relegation fears even further away.

Realistically, this team should be able to play three matches in a week (and QPR will be working on a similar schedule), but it stinks to see such a winnable match made a bit more difficult. It also throws a wrench into the Ciaran Clark yellow card situation. Now a card against Swansea or Manchester United would still see him playing at Wembley, but it would take him out of contention for a match where you'd hope to see Tim Sherwood field a full strength squad to demolish a weak opponent.

But, there's nothing to be done at this point. And what the heck? Maybe Sherwood and Villa will shock us all and sweep the week. Never hurts to dream!