Villa Park to host Chelsea/Arsenal Third Place Play Off (if needed)

In the possible event that Arsenal & Chelsea finish the Premier League with identical records, they will be forced to play off to see who finishes third and Villa Park is in line to host the vital game.

Villa Park - well used to neutral matches

Third place matters because the third placed team progresses automatically to the Group stages of the Champions League, while the fourth place team will have to face a potentially tricky two-legged qualifier to make their way into the lucrative tournament.

In order to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, a date of Sunday 26th May has been set for the match and ticket prices have been set at an affordable £20-£30, after the FA Community Shield, held at Villa Park in August, was marred by the site of swathes of empty seats.

There will be a play-off in the event that Chelsea draw against Everton at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal win by a single-goal margin at St James' Park having scored two more than their London rivals. For example, a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge and a 2-1 victory for Arsenal would result in a dead heat.

It will surely be an embarrassment to Boris Johnson and his London cohorts that no suitable venue for a clash between two London teams can be found within the capital so soon after hosting an Olympic Games.

Villa face Sporting Lisbon (AGAIN!) in NextGen Semi Final

Aston Villa's Young Lions will face Sporting Lisbon in the Next Gen semi finals

The Draw:

Villa earned the right to travel to Italy in a hard fought victory against a lively Olympiacos. Graham Burke's early goal settled it on a chilly night at Villa Park.  Supporters - including a loud and noisy clump of Greek fans - were seated in the North Stand, creating a boisterous atmosphere on a chilly night .

Chelsea qualified for the semi-finals with a crushing 4-1 win over Juventus while Sporting Lisbon cruised through in goal filled encounter with Spurs at Leyton Orient.

Sporting's youngsters were hugely impressive against the Villa in the group match at Villa Park, while Villa needed to reverse the result out in Portugal to progress.

The final quarter final takes place at the Emirates on Monday evening as Arsenal take on CSKA for the last place at Lake Como.

Both semi finals take place on Good Friday at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Lake Como, Italy while the final will be on Easter Monday.

just done recovery today! the draw for the semi finals at 3pm, we don't care who we get, we'll back ourselves against anyone #avfc
— Bradley Lewis (@BradleyLewis27) March 21, 2013

Arsenal 1 Aston Villa 6: Player's Tweets

A Foot in Both Camps: Arsenal v Villa

Aston Villa v Arsenal as it was tweeted...with a bit of Ricky Hatton at the en