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12 min: The first shot in anger is taken by Kamara, a speculative effort from the best part of 30 yards. It sails a similar distance over the bar. Watkins, who was making a run across the face of the box, shoots his team-mate a glance.
11 min: It’s all Villa in terms of early possession. McGinn attempts to find Watkins down the left but Munoz holds his position and refuses permission to pass.
9 min: Watkins and Rogers try to get something going down the Villa right, a couple of cute flicks briefly threatening to open up the channel. But then Cash clips the heel of Guehi, needlessly so, and the whistle goes.
7 min: Still nowt going on. Villa being very patient, Palace happy to sit back and watch them knock it around the back. Everyone still in Party Mode nevertheless. Speaking of which … “Great move on the part of those Palace fans with flares, blinding their keeper and defence for a few minutes,” writes Pat. “Alanis Morrisette would have had a field day if Villa had scored through the fog.”
5 min: First the smoke, now an invasion of red balloons. The ref briefly pauses the match to allow Henderson to pop a few.
4 min: Other than that one progressive Kamara pass, nobody’s showing their hand as of yet. A thoughtful start as both teams gently probe.
2 min: Kamara tries to release Cash down the right with a clever first-time pass. Lacroix is on point to usher both opponent and ball out of play for a goal kick. We can just about make this out. A lot of smoke down this end of the pitch, thanks to the tail end of a pre-match pyro party.
Crystal Palace get the ball rolling. Glorious bedlam in the stands. Everyone excited, one step away from English football’s glamour showpiece.
The teams are out! Wembley bouncing with both sets of fans giving it their all. As the designated home team, Crystal Palace get to wear their first-choice colours … which used to be Aston Villa-inspired claret and blue, back in the distant mists of time, but are of course red and blue these days. Villa are in their all-white change strip as a result. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
Oliver Glasner talks to the BBC. “We are all very excited and looking forward to this game … great atmosphere … fantastic stadium … great support from our fans … the kind of game everyone wants to play … we are in a good shape … we feel really well … let’s go … we have to perform at our top level … Villa doing so well in the Premier League and Champions League … we know how they play … discipline … focus … we will get chances … we have to wait for errors and we can score from them.”
… as does Unai Emery. “Massive respect for Palace … successful coach … they deserve to be here, playing in the semi-final … they are performing very well.” Emery also confirmed that Marcus Rashford is injured, though gave no more details other than his being not fit for today.
… but while recent results haven’t gone Villa’s way, other historical events serve them well. These two clubs have met on three previous occasions in the FA Cup, and Villa have got through each and every time. They beat Palace 5-0 in the third round in 1912-13, 4-3 in the third round in 1961-62, and 3-1 in a fifth-round replay in 2009-10. Villa went on to win the Cup in 1913, a little sepia-toned succour that balances things out nicely.
Click below for what happened the last time these teams met, at Selhurst Park almost exactly two months ago. That 4-1 thumping doesn’t augur well for Villa, who had to come from behind twice against Palace at Villa Park in November to force a 2-2 draw, having been knocked out of the League Cup by the Eagles the previous month. Palace also spanked Villa 5-0 on the final day of last season, so we can reasonably say they’ve got Unai Emery’s team’s number right now.
Crystal Palace make three changes to their first XI in the wake of their 2-2 draw at Arsenal. Jean-Philippe Mateta, Ismaïla Sarr and Chris Richards are in; Jefferson Lerma, Eddie Nketiah and Justin Devenny drop to the bench.
Aston Villa also make three changes to their starting XI, following their narrow 2-1 defeat at Manchester City. John McGinn, Ollie Watkins and Marco Asensio are back; Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey drop to the bench, while the injured Marcus Rashford misses out altogether.
The teams
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell, Sarr, Eze, Mateta.
Subs: Turner, Ward, Lerma, Nketiah, Clyne, Hughes, Esse, Chilwell, Devenny.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, McGinn, Kamara, Rogers, Tielemans, Asensio, Watkins.
Subs: Olsen, Mings, Maatsen, Garcia, Barkley, Onana, Bailey, Malen, Ramsey.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).
Preamble
Aston Villa last won the FA Cup in 1957, 68 of your Earth years ago, and even that’s something of an outlier. Five of their other six wins came during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, so it’s not as though they’ve got much of a modern tradition in this competition to fall back on. Compare and contrast to Crystal Palace, who, despite never winning the FA Cup, arguably boast a better record in recent times. At least they came close to winning the competition in 1990 and 2016, giving it a good go in the final; Villa’s only two appearances in the final since that aforementioned Fifties triumph, in 2000 and 2015, were thundering non-events from their point of view. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that both of these clubs are desperate to reach this year’s final and put right some modern-day wrongs. Kick-off at Wembley is 5.15pm BST. It’s on!
