Aston Villa are back on the pre-season friendly trail on Tuesday night with the visit to Walsall FC.

Martin O’Neill’s men face Jimmy Mullen’s young League One side in a 7.45pm kick-off at the Bescot Stadium.

Mullen, who will face Villa for the first time since taking over the manager’s role from Richard Money at the end of last season, said: “This is another important step forward in our preparations. Everything we do now is geared towards us getting ready for the first game of the season against Yeovil Town on Saturday August 9.

“This is a big game for the supporters. Aston Villa is a squad packed full of quality and it will provide us with an extremely stern test. There will be some new faces on show and everyone is looking forward to it.”

Some tickets still remain for the event costing £12 for adults and £6 for children in all areas of the ground. A decent Villa crowd is expected and will be housed in the Homeserve Stand and the West Bromwich Buidling Society Stand inside the stadium which holds some 10,000 supporters.

Walsall have, like Villa not enjoyed the best pre-season preparations slumping 3-0 to Hednesford Town and 4-0 to Worcester City, while Villa started well with a 6-0 win over Swiss side Wil 1900 lbut then lost 2-1 to Zurich and then 3-1 to League Two side Lincoln City a week ago.