ASTON Villa manager Unai Emery says he gets a daily reminder of how important it is that the club add another trophy to their list of honours.
Whenever he walks into the training ground at Bodymoor Heath, he sees a list of cups that Villa have won throughout their history.
They are all pictured on the walls of the complex – but the Spanish coach will also have noted that Villa’s last success was their League Cup victory over Leeds United in 1996.
And their last FA Cup win was in 1957 when Villa beat Manchester United.
Now, Villa have a chance to reach their first semi-final in a decade when they travel to Preston North End today (Sunday).
For Emery, winning at Deepdale would mean him qualifying on merit to manage a team at Wembley for the first time.
His only previous visits have been to watch a Community Shield game – and taking Arsenal there when Tottenham were using it as their temporary home.
Emery said: “This is different. Now there’s the chance to be playing there in a semi-final. Of course it’s a very good opportunity.
“It’s a way for a trophy. It’s a way for Europe and it’s prestige for the club.
“I like when we have in our entrance in the training ground all the cups Villa have won.
“The titles the club won in their history.
“And we want to write another new history. This is one way, one good opportunity.
“But of course we respect Preston a lot.
“To play away is always very difficult, but we are excited, and very motivated for this competition after 17 or 18 days from when we played the last match against Brugge at home.”
Emery accepts that the competition is wide open with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United out of the picture.
He added: “We are favourites playing against Preston. We know that. But I know if we are not playing, respecting them, focusing on the match and trying to do our best, we can lose.
“We can feel being the favourites with a very good opportunity to try to be at Wembley and contenders for a trophy.
“But we have to focus only on the match on Sunday and really prepare as well as possible, respecting the Preston team as much as possible.”
Emery says he wants his squad’s energy levels to be stronger than last year.
With a place in the last eight of the Champions League to come, and qualification for European competition via the Premier League still on the agenda, Emery knows he must manage his players’ fitness carefully.
Last season, however, a fourth place finish domestically was countered by a semi-final defeat to Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League. Their final match of the season was a 5-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
Emery added: “Two years ago we finished the season strongly and achieved the objective of qualifying for Europe in the last two matches. But last year we ended the season so, so tired.
“A lot of players were injured, there was not enough energy and we lost the last match against Crystal Palace away.
“This year, my objective, planning the rest of the season, is to try to be full energy. Every player focusing individually and collectively on the tasks we are going to face.”
Villa last reached the FA semi-final in 2015 when they beat Liverpool to set up a final tie with Arsenal.
They have just two former FA Cup winners in the squad travelling to Preston – keeper Emi Martinez, with Arsenal, and Youri Tielemans who scored the winning goal for Leicester on 2021.
Emery added: “The only player ruled out for Sunday is Ross Barclay. But we are looking at players returning from international duty, such as Emi Martinez, Robin Olsen, Leon Bailey and Andres Garcia to see how they are physically.
“Hopefully we can keep the players we have now available for the last two months of the season.”
