Villa have announced the warm-up games for the 2010/11 season….

Things kick off on 18 July with a trip to Conference South club, Basingstoke Town.  An Aston Villa XI will play Basingstoke, which I guess means the team will be mainly reserve players.

Next up is a trip to Ireland to play Bohemians on 24 July, followed by our usual pre-season opponents, Walsall, at the Bescot. Actually we didn’t play the Saddlers last season, but this is a regular pre-season trip.

Last season it was the Peace Cup – this season we are again entering a mini-Cup competition, the Guadiana Cup, which is being held in Vila Read de San Antonio, Eastern Algarve, Portugal. Feyenoord and Benfica are our opponents.

We finish with a home game against one of John Carew’s old clubs, Valencia. That should be a good game.

I’ll update this with any further fixtures that may be announced, and with the results once the pre-season gets underway.

UPDATE 2/7/10

A further fixture has been announced - Peterborough on 19 July.  We played them last pre-season - the result then was:

18 July 2009
Peterborough United    0    Aston Villa    3
Goalscorers: Andreas Weimann, Curtis Davies, Steve Sidwell
Team: Friedel (Parish 81); Cuéllar (Roome 81), Knight (Lichaj 62), Davies (Clark 77), Shorey (Lowry 62); Bannan (Osbourne 70), Sidwell, Reo-Coker (Herd 81), Albrighton (Hofbauer 75); Weimann (McGurk 81), Harewood (J.S. Collins 70).

UPDATE 18/7/10

Villa disappointingly lost the opening game 2-1 at Basingstoke! Team and goalscorer details below.

UPDATE 19/7/10

 Villa win 3-2 at The Posh.

UPDATE 24/7/10

Villa lose 2-1 in Dublin to Bohemians despite dominating most of the game. As in the Posh game, most of the squad got a work-out.

UPDATE 27/7/10

Andreas Weimann scores both goals in a 2-1 win at Walsall.

UPDATE 31/7/10

Villa beat Feyenoord 3-1. Marc Albrighton continued his excellent pre-season form and scored the opening goal, and made the second with a pin-point cross for Heskey to score. Steve Sidwell scored a stunning third from 25 yards.

UPDATE 1/8/10

Villa are defeated comprehensively by Portuguese champions, Benfica, in the second and final game of the Guadiana Cup.

UPDATE 6/8/10

Villa's pre-season finishes with a goalless home draw against Valencia.

July

18 – Friendly
        Basingstoke Town 2 Aston Villa 1

Goalscorer: Graham Burke

Team: Parish; L. Young, Cuéllar (Clark 52), Davies, Shorey; Albrighton, Osbourne, Hogg, Bannan (Burke 85); Forrester (J.S. Collins 52), Herd (Lichaj 67).
Substitutes not used: Siegrist, Berry, Deeney, Flanagan, Halfhuid, Taylor.

19 – Friendly
        Peterborough United 2 Aston Villa 3

Goalscorers: Ashley Young, John Carew, Eric Lichaj

Team: Friedel (Parish 46); Beye, J.M. Collins (Lowry 60), Dunne (Berry 83), Lichaj; Albrighton (Hogg 80), Petrov (Osbourne 70), Reo-Coker (Forrester 83), Downing, A. Young (Bannan 70); Carew (J.S. Collins 80).

24 – Friendly
        Bohemians 2 Aston Villa 1

Goalscorer: John Carew

Team: Friedel; Lichaj (Beye 46), Dunne, Clark (Cuéllar 46), Shorey; Albrighton, Petrov (Hogg 77), Reo-Coker (Osbourne 64), Downing (Bannan 69); A. Young; Agbonlahor (Carew 46).
Substitute not used: Parish.

27 – Friendly
        Walsall 1 Aston Villa 2

Goalscorer: Andreas Weimann (2)

Team: Friedel (Parish 72); Beye (Lichaj 46), J.M. Collins (Cuéllar 3), Davies (Clark 67), Shorey (Lowry 46); Albrighton (Hogg 72), Reo-Coker (Salifou 67), Sidwell, Bannan; Carew, Weimann.

31 – Guadiana Cup (Portugal)
        Feyenoord 1 Aston Villa 3

Goalscorers: Marc Albrighton, Emile Heskey, Steve Sidwell

After the final whistle a penalty shoot-out took place – a rule of the Guadiana Cup – 4-4 draw. Villa goalscorers: John Carew, Barry Bannan, Steve Sidwell, Nicky Shorey.

Team: Guzan; Beye (Lichaj 46), Cuéllar (Clark 79), Dunne (Davies 46), Warnock (Shorey 46); Albrighton, Petrov (Bannan 79), Reo-Coker (Sidwell 46), Downing (Heskey 46); A. Young (N. Delfouneso 76); Agbonlahor (Carew 46).
Substitutes not used: Friedel, Weimann.

August

1 – Guadiana Cup (Portugal)
      Benfica 4 Aston Villa 1

Goalscorer: John Carew

Team: Friedel; L. Young, Cuéllar (Davies 13), Dunne, Shorey (Warnock 46); Albrighton (Weimann 84), Petrov, Sidwell, A. Young (Downing 46); N. Delfouneso (Carew 57), Heskey (Reo-Coker 46).
Substitutes not used: Guzan, Clark, Bannan, Lichaj, Beye.

6 – Friendly
      Aston Villa 0 Valencia 0

Team: Friedel (Guzan 63); Beye, Clark (Lowry 82), Dunne (Warnock 46), L. Young (Lichaj 73); Albrighton (N. Delfouneso 63), Petrov (Sidwell 63), Reo-Coker (Salifou 82), Downing; A. Young (Weimann 73); Carew (Heskey 46).