Oxford United manager Chris Wilder believes the prestigious pre-season friendly against Aston Villa will be a great spectacle for the fans – and will not disrupt his team’s preparations for their Blue Square Premier campaign.

The U’s will take on Martin O’Neill’s side at the Kassam Stadium on Tuesday, August 4 (7.45), and Villa say they will send a strong squad.

That will partly depend on them not reaching the final of the Peace Cup, a tournament in Andalucia, Spain, where they are set to face Malaga and Mexican side Atlante on July 25 and July 29 respectively.

The semi-finals of that competition are on July 31, and the final is on August 2.

But with European giants Real Madrid and Juventus also taking part in the 12-team event, the likelihood is that Villa will not make it all the way through.

Among the England players the Premiership club can call on are Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey, though only time will tell whether these multi-million pound stars will play at Oxford.

The last time Oxford faced Villa was in the third round of the Worthington Cup in 2002 when they lost 3-0 in front of a then Kassam Stadium record of 12,177.

Oxford had triumphed at Charlton 6-5 on penalties in the previous round.

It will be United’s final pre-season game, with their league programme starting four days later.

A year ago, then manager Darren Patterson felt that fitting in a friendly against Premier League Portsmouth on the Monday before the season started didn’t really help the team, especially when their season-opener at Barrow was then brought forward to the Friday night for Setanta TV.

Wilder said: “There is debate about playing the week before the season starts, but we won’t have a game on the Friday night this year and I’m more than comfortable with playing on August 4.

“I appreciate Villa making such a great gesture. It will be a great test for us and a game for the fans to look forward to.

“I’m sure they will come along in great numbers to see how we do against one of the best teams in the country.”

In the first half of last season, Villa were one of the surprise packages in the Premier League, strongly challenging the big four, and although they fell away slightly after Christmas, they still finished sixth to qualify for the inaugural Europa League.

United chairman Kelvin Thomas said: “The game is one for the supporters to enjoy and should be a great night.

“Other chairmen have been calling for the Premier League to offer support to clubs at this level, especially after what happened with Setanta and the impact that could have, and for Villa to come to Oxford for what will be a huge crowd and a great game is a fine gesture.”

MICK Wadsworth has been appointed as the new manager of Blue Square Premier outfit Chester City.

The much-travelled 58-year-old former Newcastle United assistant manager succeeds ex-Oxford United boss Mark Wright, whose third spell in charge ended last week.