Preston North End v Aston Villa: Another FA Cup shock on the cards? | OneFootball

English FA Cup

Ryan Deeney previews Preston North End v Aston Villa

Deepdale will host one of its biggest games in a generation as Preston North End host Premier League Aston Villa for a place at Wembley and the FA Cup semi-finals.

Preston North End v Aston VillaSunday 30th March, 12:30Live on BBC One

Do Preston have a chance?

Opportunities like this don't come around often for clubs like Preston North End - they haven't reached the quarter-finals since 1966.

Saddled in the middle of the EFL Championship table after a campaign in which the priority has been to avoid disaster after sacking Ryan Lowe after the opening day. There has been a loose push for the top six but they've always been a little too far away amid a myriad of draws.

However, they have had fun in the cup. In the EFL Cup they saw off Sunderland, Harrogate Town and Fulham, the latter via penalties, to set up a clash with Arsenal while in the FA Cup, victories over Charlton Athletic, Wycombe Wanderers and local rivals Burnley leave them in the quarter-finals, one step from Wembley.

Sat 10 points adrift of sixth and eight points above the dropzone with eight games left to play, this feels like North End's best chance of making something of their season.

Their home form is excellent. Five of their six cup ties this season have been at home. The original English champions are up for this one and they absolutely have a chance.

Or do they?

Are Villa over their away day blues?

It is easy to look at the Aston Villa fixture list and question whether they really care about this one. They still have the Champions League and Champions League qualification to secure with their next two and a half weeks containing matches against Brighton & Hove Albion, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and their two legs against Paris St.Germain. Oh, and Southampton.

But they found form before the international break, winning four on the bounce while a number of players didn't travel away on international duty meaning they come into this one fresh. Meanwhile, the opportunity to win a trophy is something they aren't taking for granted.

The main questions centre around selection and away form. Unai Emery is likely to go strong but unlikely to go with his strongest XI with Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne and John McGinn amongst those to head out on international duty while Ollie Watkins missed the break with a knock. However, even those absences leave them with a pretty strong XI.

As for their away form, they have lost nine of their last 14 on the road and generally struggled to create opportunities in those matches, giving up plenty. But victories over Club Brugge and Brentford before the break will present reason to say they may be getting over this hurdle.

Heckingbottom has previous

Preston North End should believe.

This is a team that have lost twice at Deepdale since Paul Heckingbottom arrived in mid-to-late August and they are unbeaten at home since a 3-1 loss to Bristol City on 2nd November.

A key reason for this is how sturdy they are defensively, not conceding more than once since that loss (15 games) and only conceding more than 1xG in three of the 12 they have played since.

Paul Heckingbottom also has previous with cup competitions. His Preston have already knocked Fulham out this season, his Sheffield United reached the semi-final a couple of years back, including victory over Tottenham Hotspur, and he led Barnsley to a Wembley victory in the EFL Trophy.

Villa could easily be well rested, turn up and win this comfortably. But with bigger fish to fry, international matches having been played, changes likely to the starting XI and Preston unlikely to make this comfortable, there is every reason based on form, effort and romanticism that Preston can pull off a shock.

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