Aston Villa will face Stevenage at home in the third round of the FA Cup after the draw was held on Monday night.
While all eyes are currently on the World Cup, attention was temporarily switched to Anfield as the draw was conducted to determine who we would be facing on our entry into the FA Cup this year.
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Villa boss Unai Emery made no secret of his desire to win a trophy during his time at the club when he was unveiled earlier this month, and while our Carabao Cup run was short-lived, the Spaniard will be hoping to go much deeper in the FA Cup in his first year at the helm.
Given the shocks that we’ve seen over the years in this competition, Villa will undoubtedly avoid taking this game lightly, as Stevenage will arrive at Villa Park with nothing to lose and hopeful of causing a real upset.
The League Two side will provide us with a tough test, but given our home advantage coupled with the superior level of quality in our squad even if Emery opts to rotate and give others an opportunity, it’s a tie that we should feel very confident about winning.
As noted above, Emery will take this competition very seriously with the intention of winning it, and so we’ll no doubt see a strong XI put out by the Villa boss.
As well as the draw itself, it was confirmed that the third round ties would be played on the weekend of Saturday, January 7, which in turn will see Villa play three times at home in the space of nine days with this fixture sandwiched in between clashes with Wolves and Leeds Utd.
With the World Cup break in mind, January is now set to be a busy month for all, and it’s hoped that we start well coming out of the break at the end of December and build on our strong start under Emery.