Aston Villa are going to Wembley! Reaction after Preston 0-3 Villa

National World - LocalTV

Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden's reaction to Preston North End 0-3 Aston Villa in the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final at Deepdale, as goals from Marcus Rashford and Jacob Ramsey set up a semi-final date with Crystal Palace at Wembley.

Transcript

00:00Aston Villa are going to Wembley and they'll face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final

00:06after beating Preston North End 3-0 here at Deepdale. Marcus Rashford with his first two

00:11goals for Aston Villa in his ninth appearance. Emi Martinez with a clean sheet on his 200th

00:16appearance for the football club. It's a fantastic day for all the supporters and the club in

00:21general. Unai Emery delighted to move one step closer to potential silverware and also

00:27as he mentioned in the press conference, a Europa League qualification is also up for grabs

00:31through this competition if they can go on and win it. Of course, still a long way to go. It

00:35has to be Palace first and then whoever it is in the final. Looking like it will be AFC Bournemouth

00:40or Manchester City and they're playing against Nottingham Forest. Villa, they must focus on

00:43themselves and that's what they did today in the first half. Not overly convincing. Preston,

00:48they're pretty decent to be fair. They stepped up high, they pressed high, they had a good couple

00:52of chances of their own. Lots of lofted balls into the box, long throws causing problems.

00:57Loads of balloons on the pitch as well. Lots of rubbish thrown onto it. Made things a little bit

01:02awkward for Villa and for Preston in fairness in that first 20 minutes or so. Eventually Villa,

01:07they did settle into a bit of a rhythm especially after half-time and Unai Emery must have said

01:12something pretty powerful in that half-time team talk because they look like a completely

01:15different team after the break. Rashford, his first goal was a counter-attack. Asensio winning

01:20the ball in the middle of the park, playing it to Ramsey and then to Rodgers and then over to

01:24Luka Dean on the left. A low cross, Rashford made no mistake to put it past the goalkeeper.

01:29Then just a few minutes later, Morgan Rodgers won a penalty. Maybe a little bit of a soft foul

01:33but a penalty nonetheless. Rashford stepped up and he took it confidently, put it in the bottom

01:38right-hand corner, just rolling it past the goalkeeper, waiting for the goalkeeper to make

01:42his move and then placing it. Then about 10 minutes later, Ramsey scored his goal. Luka

01:46Dean with the second assist of the afternoon but can't take much credit for it whatsoever as it

01:51was all Ramsey. The way he took the ball on the half-turn, dribbled past two or three players,

01:56dribbling about 20 or 25 yards in total before firing with so much power into that bottom

02:01left-hand corner. That was enough in the end to make it 3-0 and at that point,

02:05pressing completely out of it, unable to get back into the tie and to secure a clean sheet as well

02:11is so, so important because Villa have not had many of those this season, especially on the roads.

02:15Looking ahead to Crystal Palace, I mean it's a team that Villa have not played very well

02:20against in recent years. They had a 5-0 defeat of course at the end of last season, a recent

02:25defeat at Sylhurst Park as well. I think there'll be some extra motivation for Emery's players to

02:29try and get one over Palace at Wembley. Of course anything can happen at the home of football and I

02:34think Villa fans are so excited for that possibility. The first time in five years they've

02:39been to Wembley and they can try and get a spot in the final which would be even more

02:45incredible. But for now, Rashford, amazing to get his first two goals for the club, really adapting

02:50to the new structure. It's great for Jacob Ramsey as well, it'll be his first ever trip to Wembley,

02:55he's delighted about that. Just a fantastic day all round for the football club here at Deepdale.

03:00Aston Villa winning 3-0 against Preston North End.

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