Aston Villa face Crystal Palace in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday evening, and Unai Emery has provided our latest team news ahead of the encounter.
Villa will not only be looking to take a big step closer to winning silverware this season by advancing to the final next month, but we’ll also hope to produce a positive response and bounce back from our disappointment in midweek after suffering defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League.
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With our ongoing pursuit of a top-five finish to qualify for the Champions League as well as our bid to win a trophy, there is a decisive month ahead in which we ultimately may well have to win six games in a row to achieve both, and so that starts this weekend in what will undoubtedly be a difficult assignment against Palace, who have caused us real problems in recent meetings.
The big hope was that we returned from Manchester in midweek with a clean bill of health and had no fresh injury concerns going into Saturday, and as per Emery in his pre-match press conference, the suggestion was that the entire squad is ready, and he should have every player available once again in a major boost.
“Rotation is not because you’re playing one match after, it’s because you’re playing one match before, because some players are tired or maybe got injured,” Emery told reporters, as per VillaTV. “We played a really hard match on Tuesday and did very good work there, but after this match the first thing was about how the players are for the selection of the starting XI.
“Tomorrow is a match that we will need the starting XI and players on the bench to be ready to play.
“We’re ready for 90 minutes, extra-time and a penalty shootout. We’re ready to play a match with every player that is available for tomorrow.”
Such is our strength in depth now and competition for places, the Villa boss will field a strong starting line-up and have options on the bench who can influence and impact the game in a positive way, and more often than not over the past month, he has got his decisions and selections spot on.
This is where it really matters now though as all connected to the club are desperate to see us lift a trophy, and so we’ll need to produce a top-class performance to overcome a dangerous Palace side, and hopefully that result will lift us in our remaining league outings to build momentum and end this season on a high note.
Having made five changes in midweek, we could see a similar number from Villa this weekend as we rotate and bring in the personnel who give us the best possible chance of defeating this particular opponent, and it’s hoped that having a fully-fit squad proves to be a decisive factor.
