Aston Villa news: Unai Emery 'arranges' surprise friendly with La Liga club during international break

Aston Villa have allegedly arranged to play a friendly against Elche during the March international break.

The West Midlands outfit concluded a busy March schedule on Sunday with a potentially-pivotal 2-0 victory over West Ham United.

Goals from John McGinn and Ollie Watkins have provided Villa with a six-point advantage over sixth place in the Premier League table as they bid to finish in the top five.

After five matches across a 17-day period, the assumption was that Villa would take advantage of the enforced rest period ahead of the Premier League run-in and their bid to win the Europa League.

However, according to AS, Unai Emery has decided to schedule a friendly to take place later this week.

© Iconsport / PA Images

When will Aston Villa play Elche?

The report claims that Villa will square off against Elche at some point on Friday.

A further report by Infobae says that the fixture will take place at the Pinatar Arena, a 3,000-capacity stadium based in Murcia.

As a facility with a sports club, hotel and training facilities, the ground has become a popular destination for clubs around Europe.

With many of Aston Villa's senior players going away with their respective nations for an international double-header, the travelling squad will be a mixture of first team and academy players.

© Imago

Why are Aston Villa playing a friendly at this stage of the season?

Aston Villa have already played 41 Premier League and Europa League fixtures this season, as well as a further three in the EFL Cup and FA Cup.

However, it is their fourth-round exit from the latter that has left Villa without a competitive match until April 9.

That game - a trip to Italy to face Bologna in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals - is followed by a showdown against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground three days later.

Therefore, this is seemingly a bid to keep players up-to-speed and not be without a game for two weeks and four days.

Elche currently sit in 17th place in the La Liga table, their survival bid helped by a 2-1 win over Mallorca on Saturday.