Pre-season begins at the Bescot

Fixtures Walsall Vs. Aston Villa - Wed, Jul 16th 2025, 19:30 Aston Villa open up their pre-season campaign on Wednesday, making the short trip across the midlands to face Walsall at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium (ko 7.30pm). Unai Emery's players have been back in pre-season training for just over a week, having returned last Monday, and take on the League Two outfit ahead of this weekend's trip to Germany to play Hansa Rostock (Saturday, 3pm GMT). It cues the official start of preparations for 2025/26 as far as summer fixtures are concerned, and comes just over seven weeks since Villa's last outing on the final day of the 2024/25 season. An annual fixture, the clash with the Saddlers is a familiar one to many a Villan, often opening up our pre-season friendly schedule. Here's a look at the facts, figures and key bits of information ahead of kick-off... How to follow Tickets for Wednesday's clash are sold out, with over 4,000 Villa supporters set to descend on the Bescot. Villa fans can watch our fixture against Walsall live - for free - on VillaTV. You can watch each of the club's eight pre-season matches live on VillaTV via Memberships and Match Passes. Everyone can watch tonight’s Walsall fixture for free when logged in to their Essential Membership (previously called Digital Account). Adult and Video members will have access to every pre-season match as part of their membership - bringing you closer to the action as we build up to the 2025/26 campaign. For more information, click here. Supporters will also be able to follow all the usual match updates for all friendlies, beginning this evening, across the club's official digital channels. Essential Membership Sign Up Now The opponents Managed by Mat Sadler, Walsall reached the League Two play-off final at Wembley last season, having sat top of the league table for much of the first half of the season. A 1-0 defeat under the arch saw them lose out on promotion to League One by the finest of margins, meaning they will again contest in the fourth tier this coming campaign. With their league season set to begin on Saturday, August 2, Walsall are already two matches into their pre-season schedule. They opened up with a 4-0 win at Leamington last Tuesday, before triumphing 3-0 against Hereford behind closed doors at the weekend. Among their players is former Villan Albert Adomah, who penned a new one-year contract with the Saddlers last month at the age of 37, having helped Villa to promotion back to the Premier League in 2019, scoring 22 goals in 125 appearances across three seasons in claret and blue. The venue The Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium is a familiar location for the Villa faithful, having contested many a pre-season fixture in WS1 over the years. Walsall's home has also been a long-term host of Aston Villa Women's fixtures. Natalia Arroyo's side currently play all cup fixtures at the Bescot, which was also their home for league outings up until their move to Villa Park ahead of the 2024/25 season. It has been home to Walsall since opening in 1990, and has a total capacity of just over 11,000 - which is entirely seated. Last year's fixture Villa opened up their pre-season campaign at the Bescot Stadium last summer, with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Walsall on July 17. Emery's men were two goals to the good at half-time thanks to a brace from Morgan Rogers. The England international latched on to Ross Barkley's quick free-kick and finished coolly midway through the opening period, before doubling his and his side's tally just after the half hour with a neat finish on the turn from a corner. The Villa boss rung 11 changes at half-time as a younger side put the seal on the victory in stoppage time, Louie Barry converting Samuel Iling Jr's cross from close range to make it a successful start to pre-season. Travel advice Additional rail services will call at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium You can check details of all rail services to and from the stadium using the National Rail Enquiries real-time journey planner, click here After the match, the slip road of Aston Expressway will be closed on approach to Darthmouth Circus for southbound traffic from 22:00 hrs. A signed diversion will be in place The 22:58 Birmingham International to Rugeley Trent Valley service will terminate at Walsall due to rail engineering work. A rail replacement bus service will be in place