Aston Villa and Unai Emery sent clear warning ahead of Preston North End | OneFootball

Villa travel to Deepdale on Sunday in the FA Cup quarter-final

Former Aston Villa striker and talkSPORT pundit, Gabby Agbonlahor, has offered hope to Preston North End ahead of their FA Cup quarter-final clash with the Premier League side on one key condition.

Issuing his predictions ahead of Sunday's cup tie at Deepdale, Agbonlahor believes that Paul Heckingbottom's side have the chance to land a major scalp against the Villans, if Unai Emery is to rest and rotate amid a gruelling upcoming schedule which also sees them take on PSG in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

The Championship side come into this clash having seen off two of League One's high-flyers in Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers in the third and fourth round, before dismantling Burnley in a Lancashire Derby, 3-0, on March 1st.

Preston are also the lowest-ranked side remaining in the illustrious competition, coming into the last eight as the EFL's sole representatives among the likes of Villa, last season's beaten finalists Manchester City and Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest.

Gabby Agbonlahor offers hope to Preston North End ahead of Aston Villa, FA Cup meeting

Whilst the odds are stacked against the side currently 14th in the second tier table, the 38-year-old believes that there is a chance that the Lilywhites could earn a famous victory in what is the club's first quarter-final since 1966, when they were defeated 3-1 by Manchester United in a replay at Old Trafford.

However, if Emery is to field a team similar to the ones which have progressed against West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Cardiff City en-route to the last eight, Agbonlahor continues to back his boyhood club, who he played 391 times for.

“I’m not worried because this manager has understood how much it means to the fans, the FA Cup," he said on talkSPORT (27/03, 6:10AM)

"He’s played his strongest team since Villa entered the competition," Agbonlahor added.

“I think he’s going to go all out, and even though we’ve got Brighton away on Wednesday, I think he’s going to put out his best team," the pundit continued.

The former Villa striker concluded: "If you try and drop a few players and rest a few, Preston will roll them over.”

Simon Grayson is one man who knows what it's like for Deepdale to be sold out, as it will be on Sunday afternoon, in a mammoth cup tie having competed against Louis Van Gaal's Manchester United side in the Fifth Round, 10 seasons ago.

Scott Laird gave North End a priceless lead before goals from Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini and Wayne Rooney turned the scoreline on it's head.

The man who took Preston out of League One and re-established their position in the Championship after a four-year exile stated he would like to see Heckingbottom's men reach Wembley Stadium for the semi-finals, but also wants Villa to be successful again, having been a part of the B6 club's last side to win major silverware in 1996.

"My heart wants Preston to win but I also had two great years as a player at Villa as well," the 55-year-old told the BBC.

"I loved my time at Preston," he said. "I had nothing but good times there and won promotion in front of around 50,000 fans at Wembley by beating Swindon 4-0 in the play-off final."

"No disrespect to Preston, but winning the FA Cup could be a big opportunity for Villa this season," the former midfielder stated.'

"Villa are a huge club and they will look at this game as an opportunity towards getting to the final and winning silverware."

"I'm intrigued as to how this tie is going to go," he concluded.

Paul Heckingbottom will hope to cement his FA Cup legacy with another Championship club

Despite taking charge of Preston in tricky circumstances following the first game of the season against Sheffield United, Heckingbottom has stabilised his side and created a bond with the supporters as the club looks to progress forward.

Four points from the last six available in the league gave the 47-year-old and his players plenty of momentum heading into the international break, and they will look to come out firing against Villa, who are also on their best run in the competition since reaching the final in 2015.

However, Heckingbottom will have an extra incentive, as he could lead yet another second tier club to the semi-final in the space of three seasons, having defeated Millwall, Wrexham, Tottenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers en-route to Wembley in a historic season at Bramall Lane, before losing 3-0 against eventual winners, Manchester City.

There's no doubt that Villa have an abundance of quality within their ranks, although they were frustrated by Cardiff's Ethan Horvath for 65 minutes of the fifth-round tie at Villa Park before a Marco Asensio double sealed their passage into the next round.

Therefore, Preston must be defensively sound, and hope to catch Emery's defence on an off-day, which isn't impossible with a total of just four clean sheets across 17 games in all competitions since New Year's Day.