Aston Villa’s season just keeps getting better. Their FA Cup triumph has secured a spot in the semi-finals, adding to the excitement surrounding Unai Emery’s side.
We spoke with Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld about what this achievement means for the club. With Villa also battling for a top-four Premier League finish and making waves in Europe, their campaign is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling in years.
We spoke with Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld about what this achievement means for the club. With Villa also battling for a top-four Premier League finish and making waves in Europe, their campaign is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling in years.
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00:00Now, Aston Villa's season just keeps getting better. Their FA Cup triumph has secured a
00:08spot in the semi-finals, adding to the excitement surrounding Unai Emery's side. I spoke with
00:14Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World about what this achievement means for the club,
00:19with Villa also battling for a top-four finish in the Premier League and making waves in
00:23Europe. Their campaign is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling in years. The momentum
00:28is building and as they push for silverware on multiple fronts, Villa fans have every
00:33reason to dream of a truly historic campaign.
00:37Charlie, let's start and look at Aston Villa in terms of their situation. I mean, they've
00:44reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, a long time coming as well in the last few seasons
00:49they've sort of struggled to get to the latter stages. Where do you see this sort of priority
00:57Before we go into the priorities with the Champions League as well, let's just look
01:02at the game. Obviously, 3-0 away from home at Preston, a favourable draw as we mentioned.
01:07They obviously got that favourable draw in the Champions League as well. Things are just
01:11sort of piecing together at the right time, it seems. But in terms of the game, I mean,
01:16they had a job to do away from home and they seem to get it done.
01:19Yeah, they absolutely did. The first half away at Deepdale was a little bit tentative
01:25at times and Preston actually probably looked the more likely team to score, throwing balls
01:28into the box, long throws and quite awkward crosses into the area. Martinez having to
01:33deal with a few. But then second half, completely different story. Marcus Rashford scoring his
01:37first two goals for the club. The first one, a proper striker's finish as he poked home
01:41from a Lugardine cross. Second one was a penalty, but he still got to step up and take it and
01:45he did it in style. He didn't even look at the ball once. He just stared down the goalkeeper's
01:49eyes and then made sure he made the first move before slotting it home. And then the
01:53goal for Jacob Ramsey as well. What a goal it was, turning away from his defender, running
01:5725 or 30 yards before firing to that far bottom left-hand corner. The Villa fans in attendance,
02:02thousands of them in the Bill Shankly cop, absolutely loving life. And rightly so, they're
02:07off to Wembley for the first time in five years.
02:09Yeah, and they face Crystal Palace in the next round. I mean, a Wembley semi-final's
02:16great. A chance to get to an FA Cup final for Unai Emery would be unbelievable with
02:20this Villa group. They haven't beaten Palace at all this season. The last few times they've
02:26met as well, they've sort of struggled against them. But you'd probably argue it's a favourable
02:30one in terms of Forest, the Manchester City and the other half as well. If they are to
02:35get to the final, do you feel there's nothing to lose? Unai Emery, a real chance at silverware
02:40and this could be the perfect opening for it.
02:44Yeah, I think obviously Palace, the Villa fans, will be worried about the previous meetings.
02:48It's been pretty terrible against them in recent times, especially last season as well.
02:52The end of five-nil defeat at Solhurst Park. I know everything was wrapped up with the
02:55Champions League at that point, so it didn't really matter, but it was still a painful
02:58one nonetheless. And of course, that kind of carried over into this season with more
03:01pain against Palace. But as you say, Nottingham Forest doing an incredible job in the Premier
03:07League this season under Nuno Espirito Santo. Manchester City, not quite the same city of
03:11old, but still so, so powerful. I think it's something ridiculous like seven or eight semi-finals
03:17in a row in the FA Cup for them. So, they're very good in this competition. Villa avoiding
03:22both of those and getting Palace is probably the best case scenario. And I think Emery
03:25will be looking at that one confidently. Anything can happen at Wembley. Of course, neutral
03:30turf, not having to go to Solhurst Park again is a bonus. And yeah, Villa confident, I think
03:35with all their fan base and their support, can hopefully do one over Palace.
03:39And Marcus Rashford, I mean, you know, he's sort of come into his own at Villa way more
03:44confident, it seems, in the last few games. And he's linked up fantastically with Marco
03:49Senna as well. That January window is looking like it's proving to possibly be the difference.
03:54I mean, in terms of Rashford, how important is it that they maybe look to make his deal
03:59permanent? Because if he can get back to the Rashford of, you know, just four or five years
04:04ago, maybe even less at times, he's one of the best players in the league. And, you know,
04:09that is a very big potential to take Villa forward.
04:14Absolutely. And we've seen how much pace he's still got. 27 years of age, he's in his prime,
04:19playing so, so well on that left hand side, but also through the centre. Olly Watkins
04:23didn't start against Preston. He was actually fit enough to start, but Emery decided to
04:27go for Rashford instead. He got his first two goals. Before that, as you kind of alluded
04:31to, he got four assists for Marco Asensio in the eight games before that. So incredible
04:36form so far. Looks like he's returning to his former self. And I think that 40 million
04:40pound buy option is definitely a possibility this summer.