Celtic handed huge Champions League advantage as Aston Villa warning issued
Celtic's Scottish Premiership match with Dundee has been postponed due to storm damage at Celtic Park.
It means Brendan Rodgers' side will have an extended rest before facing Aston Villa in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Villa will play on Sunday afternoon against West Ham at 4:30pm.
Celtic will have played their last match seven days prior to kicking off against Villa on Wednesday evening, while Emery's men have a three-day rest. Villa will need to win the game to give themselves the best chance of finishing in the top eight of the league phase table.
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Villa will secure automatic qualification for the Champions League round of 16 if they beat Celtic and one of Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Atalanta or Bayer Leverkusen fail to win their final league phase games.
Villa could also finish above Leverkusen if they better the German side's winning margin against Sparta Praha by two or more goals. Fourth-placed Inter could also be caught by Villa if they lose to Monaco. But it would be the Ligue 1 side replacing Inter in the top eight if they were to win by two more goals than Villa.
Ahead of Wednesday night, West Midlands Police have urged restraint among Villa fans if Celtic fans are found in the home ends after the trouble caused at Old Trafford on Thursday when Rangers supporters managed to buy home tickets for the Europa League match with Manchester United.
Using their dedicated X account, they posted: “If there are away supporters located in home areas of the stadium on Wednesday evening, do not react with aggression or violence. Please allow Aston Villa staff or if required, the Police to deal with the matter. Aston Villa have tried hard to prevent this happening.”
