Oxford United officials are in talks with Aston Villa to decide on the date of the Worthington Cup third-round tie at The Kassam Stadium.

Although it was assumed the match would take place on United's normal midweek match night of Tuesday (November 5), and an announcement was made that it would not be one of the ties chosen for live TV coverage, further complications have arisen.

Villa were due to play Blackburn Rovers at home on the Saturday before, November 2, but Graeme Souness's team have now qualified for the second round of the UEFA Cup and will play one of the legs on the previous Thursday night - and it could be in some far-flung part of Europe.

Blackburn are therefore keen to move their Premiership game at Villa to the Sunday - and Villa would then rather have their Worthington Cup clash at Oxford on the Wednesday.

However, it's reported that the banqueting suites at The Kassam Stadium have already been booked out for Wednesday, November 6 and the following day. With a lot of the car parking taken up then as well, it will make holding a football match very difficult.

Oxford are therefore expected to insist that the game will have to be staged on the Tuesday.

The UEFA Cup second-round draw was taking place in Switzerland later today, and the date of the Villa-Blackburn clash should be clearer following that.

In the first round, Blackburn had to play a Premiership game on the Monday before their away leg in Sofia on the Thursday.

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