Bluebirds and Villa ready to pay tribute to legend Whitts
ASTON Villa travel to the Cardiff City Stadium this evening as Unai Emery’s men return to match action for the first time in more than a fortnight.
Villa take on Mark Hudson’s Cardiff side in the Peter Whittingham Memorial Match as both sides and supporters will pay their respects to the late, great midfielder who tragically died in March 2020 aged just 35 after a fall.
Whittingham played 66 times for Villa between 2003 and 2007 before joining Cardiff on a permanent deal for £350,000 where he’d go on to cement his legendary status.
The dad-of-two racked up 457 appearances for the south Wales club, scoring 96 goals, while also winning the Championship in 2013.
Whittingham was also an FA Cup runnerup with the Bluebirds in 2008.
Ahead of tomorrow’s friendly, here’s everything you need to know to watch Cardiff vs Aston Villa ...
How to watch
The match kicks off at 7pm and fans not able to attend can watch via Cardiff’s live stream. It’s priced at £7 with all proceeds going to the Peter Whittingham 7 Foundation.
Paying on the gate
Tickets are still available to purchase and fans can pay at the gate. Adults are priced at £10, 16-21 year-olds and 60+ are £7 while it’s £3 for under-16s. It’s hoped close to 8,000 fans will be in attendance. Villa have sold in the region of 800 tickets.
Team news
Both teams will field their strongest-possible squads tomorrow evening, as per the agreement prior to the friendly being agreed back at the beginning of the season.
For Villa, Unai Emery will be without Emi Martinez, Matty Cash, Jan Bednarek and Leander Dendoncker given their World Cup involvement while John McGinn, Robin Olsen and Ludwig Augustinsson have been given additional time off given they were in international action prior to the World Cup earlier this month. Philippe Coutinho, Jed Steer and Diego Carlos are injured.