Aston Villa become latest club to come out against playing in neutral grounds

Aston Villa have become the second Premier League club to say they are opposed to finishing the season at neutral venues.

As the 20 top flight clubs try to find a way to signal a return to action, the prospect of playing the remaining raft of games at neutral grounds is very real.

But after Brighton declared themselves unwilling to give up home advantage as they fight to avoid relegation, fellow strugglers Villa have now backed them up.

Villa chief executive Christian Purslow told TalkSport this morning: 'Personally I am against it. We are a club that prides itself on home form.

'Two-thirds of our wins this season came at home. We have six left. Giving up that advantage is a massive decision and I certainly wouldn't agree to it unless the circumstances are right. My duty is to my club.

'The financial equation at the bottom of the table is really rather different to the top. Losses the big six are suffering run to tens of millions of pounds and the restart is a project designed to recoup some of the losses we are suffering.

'But at the bottom it's different. None of us are playing in Europe. None of us are generating millions on match day. It's a much smaller revenue base and the risk of relegation is probably a £200m catastrophe for any club that mathematically could still go down.

'So when you say to a club near the bottom we want you to agree to a bunch of rule changes that may make it more likely that you may get relegated they are thinking about agreeing to something that may lose them £200m.

'There are no rights and wrongs here. Every club has to protect its own financial position and they are wildly different.

'Nobody is pretending there is not a focus on protecting our revenue.'

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