Aston Villa and Crystal Palace meet in the Premier League later this month, but the fixture has been given a strange kick-off time.
The two teams will face off at Villa Park on Sunday, August 31 in Gameweek 3 of the new season.
Both will be looking to build up some momentum in the meantime, as they get their top-flight campaigns underway this weekend.
Villa host Newcastle in the early kick-off on Saturday, live on talkSPORT, having been narrowly pipped by them to Champions League qualification last term.
Meanwhile, fresh from lifting the Community Shield, the Eagles travel to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea at 2pm on Sunday.
The following week, the Villans will travel to Brentford on the Saturday, before Palace welcome Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park the following day.
A week later, the two sides will meet in the Premier League, but fans may be puzzled to see the match taking place in an unusual slot.
Why is Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace at 7pm on a Sunday?
Villa vs Palace was initially scheduled for Friday, August 29, but it has since been handed a new date and kick-off time.
It will instead take place at 7pm on Sunday, August 31.
This is due to the Eagles’ participation in the Conference League play-off round.
Oliver Glasner’s side will face either Norwegian club Fredrikstad or Danish side Midtjylland in the qualifying clash.
The first leg will take place at home on Thursday, August 21, before Palace travel away for the second leg a week later on the 28th.
As a result, due to player recovery, their next Premier League match cannot be played the next day, as first planned.
The fixture was originally chosen for live TV coverage by Sky Sports, and a club statement from Villa confirmed this will still be the case.
It means fans in the UK will be treated to four games shown live by the broadcaster that day.
Sky Sports will also be showing Brighton’s clash with Manchester City, and Nottingham Forest vs West Ham, both of which are 2pm kick-offs.
Then at 4:30pm, fans can tune in as Liverpool host Arsenal in a blockbuster clash at Anfield.
Why are Crystal Palace playing in the Conference League?
The Eagle’s initially qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Man City in May.
However, they were then relegated to the Conference League following a UEFA ruling over a breach of multi-club ownership rules.
Palace fell foul of the rule due to former co-owner John Textor’s involvement with French side Olympique Lyon, who qualified for the Europa League via a 6th-place finish in Ligue 1 last term.
And after their appeal to overturn this was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), their spot in Europe’s third-tier was confirmed on Monday.
The ruling means Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League last term and initially qualified for the Conference League, have since been elevated to the Europa League.
Villa will also take part in this year’s Europa League, booking their spot in the league phase with a fifth-place league finish last term.
Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace: The backstory
Villa will be looking to gain revenge on Palace when they meet at the end of August.
Unai Emery‘s side failed to beat the south Londoners in all three of their encounters last season, losing twice and drawing once.
None will have been more painful than their final clash, where they were beaten 3-0 by the Eagles in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley.
Eberechi Eze opened the scoring with a stunning curled effort in the first-half, before Ismaila Sarr netted twice after the interval to send Palace through.
It wasn’t any better for Villa in the previous fixture either, as they were thrashed 4-1 at Selhurst Park in the Premier League fixture.
But Oliver Glasner could be without one of his key performers by the time his side next face Villa.
Tottenham recently re-opened talks to sign star man Eze, while they also face competition for his signature from north London rivals Arsenal.