FA Cup Semifinal: Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa

Welp, another day another big match, and in the here and now, you’d have to say it’s the biggest match of the season. Two games away from a trophy we’ve been chasing for 68 years, if I’m figuring that right. Hard to believe it could be that long, but there you go.

So yes, it is worth playing for and I’m glad to see Emery has given Ollie the start. I’d have liked to see Tyrone start as well, because really you’d say over these last several seasons, Ty, Super John and Ollie have been the backbone of the side. But, it’s Emery’s call.

Probably not a whole lot to say. Everyone knows Palace are one of our bogey teams, so it’s a tough assignment. Putting the Champions League places aside, it might be best that Villa are coming off a disappointing visit to the Etihad as far as mentality goes. I’d thought we were going to go and beat City given the PSG and Newcastle performances, but alas. So one hopes everyone’s motivated by being so close to winning something and maybe having something to say after the setback. A lot of the players have set silverware as their goal for their time at Villa. We’d all love to see it happen. The supporters deserve to see Villa go through to the final today, and it’s one that we’d have every chance of winning on our day.

Elsewhere the lineup is interesting given who we’re matching up with. SJM and Kamara holding the fort with Tielemans. Rogers up front with Asensio and Ollie despite how gassed looked coming off midweek. There’s a lot on the bench, though it’s interesting Rashford isn’t on there. Been trying to see if he picked up a knock in training or something, but no real word that I’ve found.

So, it’s here, it’s remarkable we’ve juggled so much to book our place. Let’s go and get our return ticket punched.

Over to you.