Despite all the doom and gloom (and our idiotic jokes about Elon Musk taking over Villa) Aston Villa got pre-season off to a good start with two positive showings against Kidderminster Harriers and Telford. Jonathan Kodjia and Jack Grealish found starring roles, while Easah Suliman, Mitch Clarke and Andre Green impressed over a two-legged pre-season debut that saw Villa play two matches at the same time.

As far as pre-season goes, the Villans did ok.

Those two matches must be considered warm-up games, more like a dress rehearsal for today’s match against Walsall, where pre-season kicks off proper for Villa. A single team takes on another, and Villa will start to search out the narratives that may very well take them through the season. It’ll be interesting to see who makes the team when the two sides that played at the weekend are bound together.

Thanks to Villa’s media team as well, you’ll be able to stream the game on YouTube. You can actually watch it on this page, below - if you fancy it. Enjoy the day and enjoy watching Villa again. It all starts here. Feel free to comment below!

TV and Streaming

Location: Bescot Stadium, Walsall, England

Kick-off time: 19.45 pm UK, 14.45 pm Eastern, 11.45 am Pacific

Weather: A mild mid-summer in England

Open Match Thread: Jump into the comments at the bottom of the page

Streaming: Click play on the video below

Twitter: You can find our live updates @7500toHolte, and we’d also recommend @VillaReport for updates as well.

Injuries

Villa will likely miss Scott Hogan, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Harry McKirdy. Callum O’Hare is also out injured for a number of weeks.

Aston Villa squad

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