A television mix-up means Aston Villa have to play two games in 48 hours.
Villa switched their FA Cup tie against Man Utd to 4 January expecting it would be shown live but the game was not selected for television coverage.
The club, who play Portsmouth on 6 January, cannot move the cup tie back to Saturday as Midlands rivals Birmingham are at home on that day.
"It is unfortunate that we've got to play two games in 48 hours," said Villa manager David O'Leary.
Villa club secretary, Steve Stride, added: "We approached Birmingham to ask if they would move their game to the Sunday to enable both clubs to have a three-day break before their next fixture.
"Unfortunately Birmingham felt unable to comply with our request."
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