Eagled-eyed fans of Premier League clubs will have spotted that their team is playing a club this midweek that they have already faced this season.
At the midway point in the campaign, each team will still have one opponent left that they have not met.
Aston Villa face league leaders Arsenal for a second time in the first half of the season, despite not yet facing Nottingham Forest.
It is something that has baffled Villa manager Unai Emery.
“It is the first time in my career as a coach, 20 years, we are finishing the first part of the season not playing 19 teams,” he said.
“I don’t know why. Only I am telling it because it is the only issue in my mind I am not understanding. But, of course, I accept it.”
Damian Vidagany, Aston Villa’s director of football, suggested there is a bias with fixture scheduling and called it “a mystery”.
“I asked the people and they didn’t tell us,” he said in a post on X. “So, it is a mystery. The fact is that willing, or not, this makes more convenient the fixtures for certain clubs that are not travelling on this very busy Christmas period.
“I let you take a look which clubs are playing home both last and next match. To make us play two away games in less than 72 hours will be never an excuse but we agree that is much better on the recovery side [to] play twice at home and not travel.
“We are not, for sure, as it is obvious, having any influence. It would be a disgrace if the fixtures become a political territory,” he added.
