Aston Villa on brink of incredible season after favourable FA Cup tie

National World - LocalTV

A look at what this season could turn out to be for AVFC.

Transcript

00:00Aston Villa have another favourable draw in the Champions League against Club Brugia.

00:17FA Cup situation, Preston North End is not a bad draw, no disrespect but a championship

00:22club. It's a huge chance to go far, they've proven that they can do it in terms of competition

00:30in the Champions League. Can they go all the way in the FA Cup and make more history? This

00:34could be an incredible season.

00:39It really could. I think there hasn't really been much of an opportunity for them to go

00:43this far in the FA Cup for a very long time. I think you can say the same for a lot of

00:47the other teams remaining in the competition, lots of potential first winners of it as well.

00:51My own team, Brighton and Hervalby, playing against Nottingham Forest, quite a difficult

00:55tie there. I think they're two teams that Villa would be happy to come up against compared

00:59to the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City up at the other end of the table. You've

01:06also got Bournemouth playing Manchester City. It's not going to be an easy one if Man City

01:10reach all the way to the final and Villa have to play them. If you're going to play them

01:14on any given year, I think you would take this one with Pep Guardiola struggling to

01:18get them going. Obviously, they might not even finish in the Champions League spot,

01:22so it's definitely a good time to play them. You've got Fulham and Crystal Palace in the

01:27other quarter-final tie as well. I think they're two very beatable teams. There hasn't really

01:31been a better opportunity, has there, in such a long time. That Preston draw is just such

01:36a relief for Villa. They're going to have a very tough fixture run coming up, obviously

01:39playing PSG in the quarter-finals of the Champions League around that kind of time. They've got

01:44Southampton as well that they got to play in the Premier League. That's quite a nice relieving

01:48fixture when you've got to play PSG twice in the space for a week. I'm feeling hopeful

01:52for Villa. I think they can beat Preston and get through. It just depends, doesn't it,

01:56on who they get in the semi-finals.

01:58Villa's transfer strategy, we've mentioned it, how they built that squad, signed a few

02:06top European contenders and made their way into the Conference League. Then it doesn't

02:11all quite go to plan in terms of going incredibly far in that, but then they make the immediate

02:16jump to the Champions League. Their business definitely correlated with that, with some

02:20more top signings and reinvestment in the squad. How much further can they go? Obviously,

02:26they've attracted the likes of Marcus Rashford, Marco Sancho. These star players are now coming

02:31to Villa Park. We've mentioned Ian Rais-Paul before. A trip to Wembley, they're going to

02:37be on the big screens again. Players will want to be involved at Aston Villa. The summer

02:42could be incredibly interesting for them.

02:45It's incredible, really, how much Unai Emery has achieved in such a short period of time.

02:50A lot of the players he's dealing with are still here from when Steven Gerrard was at

02:55the club and they're in a relegation battle. I believe eight of the starters in the recent

02:59Champions League game have been there under Steven Gerrard. Amazing, really, what he's

03:03been able to do. Obviously, as you mentioned, Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio, these are

03:08two very marquee signings. Probably the biggest name signing since Philippe Coutinho came

03:12through the door. They both made a fantastic start. Marco Asensio, in particular, scoring

03:18seven goals in his first eight games, matching his tally from his time at PSG already. I

03:23think he had nearly 50 games in a PSG shirt. Rashford, he's got four assists, all of which

03:29have been for Asensio. There is a £40m option to buy Rashford from Manchester United permanently

03:34in the summer. I'm expecting Villa will probably take that up, but it really does depend on

03:39his wage demands. Currently on £325,000 a week at Man United, Villa paying about 75%

03:46of that. I don't think they'd be willing to pay more than £225,000, £250,000 a week,

03:52and that's probably pushing it even still. They've only done it for this short period

03:56because it's for only six months, so we'll see what happens. With Asensio, I think it's

04:00a bit of a different situation, of course. There's no option to buy him, but he only

04:04has 12 months left on his PSG contract come the summer. I think PSG are quite happy to

04:09let him go either on another loan deal or permanently for a cut price fee, so be interested

04:14to see where Villa go there. In terms of other additions, I think they'll definitely look

04:17at the possibility of signing Axel de Zassi permanently from Chelsea. They've got him

04:22for £5m on loan for the rest of the season. Chelsea are open to selling him in the summer.

04:26There'll be other defensive targets looked at, no doubt, as well. Emery does want to

04:31have a proper centre-back pairing going forward. I know Konza and Paulo Torres have been great

04:35together, but when Paulo Torres has been injured, Tyrone Mings, although he's had an

04:40amazing performance here and there, hasn't quite been that consistent force, especially

04:44with his fitness. There will be more defensive additions, no doubt. Villa can then really

04:49push on to try and become a proper force in the Champions League. Hopefully they can achieve

04:53that qualification for next season. It's amazing to see how far they could get in the transfer

04:57market.

04:58Charlie, just on Ollie Watkins specifically. He had an unbelievable campaign individually

05:07last season. He's still hit the heights, he's still scored a number of goals, he's played

05:12a lot of football already at this stage. The headlines haven't really been towards him.

05:17What's been the change in that? Has there been a change in system that has focused on

05:22other players? Because Ollie Watkins has still been good for Villa, but maybe not the unbelievable

05:28player that he was 12 months ago.

05:31He's not quite hit the same heights as last season. I think his form has been a bit patchy.

05:36It didn't help that he came back from the Euros and he didn't have a proper summer,

05:39he didn't have a proper pre-season either. It took him a little while to get back up

05:42to speed, but he's still been in great form considering. I think if it wasn't for last

05:47year, you'd be saying that he's having a fantastic campaign, he should definitely be in the England

05:51squad etc. etc. The only reason he's not with the England squad is because of an injury

05:55he picked up just before the international break. Potentially it's good for him to go

05:59under the radar, the pressure going off his shoulders. Rashford Asensio could be in the

06:03limelight for a bit longer and then maybe towards the end of the season Watkins can

06:06score some vital goals to secure Champions League football and all will be forgotten.

06:10I think Villa fans, myself as a journalist, I've definitely got faith that Watkins can

06:14get back to his best.

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