Villa tie reversed

Aston Villa will now have home advantage in the second leg of their UEFA Cup clash with FH Hafnarfjordur after UEFA officials agreed to reverse the tie.

Originally Villa were due to host the first leg on August 14 with the second clash taking place in Iceland on August 28.

Minnows Hafnarfjordur were apparently keen to stage the first leg to guarantee a decent sized crowd for the visit of their Premier League opponents - which may not have been the case had they been well beaten at Villa Park.

It will be Villa’s first UEFA Cup clash for seven years since they were beaten by Croatian side NK Varteks at the start of the 2000-01 campaign.