Aston Villa had to exercise patience away at Deepdale in the FA Cup, but after Marcus Rashford broke his Villa duck early into the second half, Unai Emery’s visitors ultimately cruised to a 3-0 victory over a tiring Preston North End outfit.
Rashford would add a second shortly after the opener from the penalty spot, whilst homegrown star Jacob Ramsey also managed to beat stand-in Lilywhites goalkeeper David Cornell late on to make the win even sweeter for the travelling masses.
Now, a semi-final versus Crystal Palace awaits Emery and Co at Wembley, with Rashford hopeful he can add more and more strikes to his account for his loan club before facing off against Oliver Glasner’s Eagles.
Rashford's performance in numbers
The Manchester United loanee would have been relishing the opportunity to lead the line for his fresh employers on Sunday, knowing that chances would likely come his way facing off against a Championship-level defence.
In total, the rejuvenated figure of Rashford would register five shots on the constantly busy Preston goal, with two efforts thankfully finding the back of the net to guide his team to a straightforward win.
On top of bagging those two all-important strikes, the 27-year-old would regularly show off his unselfish side when marauding forward with confidence, leading to the Villa number nine finishing the contest with three key passes under his belt.
Ollie Watkins might well be fearful of his starting spot as the main marksman, therefore, but another standout performer up top could now be giving Emery even more selection headaches after his equally excellent display against Paul Heckingbottom’s hosts.
The Villa star as good as Rashford
Whilst Rashford rightly lapped up most of the praise come the full-time whistle, there were other star individuals that helped Emery’s men secure a comfortable passage through to the next round of the FA Cup, with Lucas Digne standing out from the left-back spot by claiming two assists.
But, the aforementioned Ramsey arguably put in a shift that was most similar to Rashford’s in managing to blow away opposition defenders with ease, meaning the Spaniard has an awful lot of electric attacking options to choose from between now and the bumper campaign closing.
Having battled with injury knocks for large portions of this campaign, Ramsey was very much back to his dynamic best for the Villans on their travels on Sunday, with this solo effort beating Cornell to gift the number 41 his fourth goal of the campaign.
Completing all of his dribbles as a tricky customer too, on top of winning eight duels as a fierce battler, the Birmingham-born winger will hope he can nail down a starting spot under Emery off the back of this lively showing, even with the likes of Donyell Malen, Leon Bailey, Morgan Rogers and many other super talents at the ex-Arsenal boss’ disposal.
Opponent
Competition
Date
1. Brighton and Hove Albion (A)
Premier League
2nd of April
2. Nottingham Forest (H)
Premier League
5th of April
3. PSG (A)
Champions League
9th of April
4. Southampton (A)
Premier League
12th of April
5. PSG (H)
Champions League
15th of April
Sourced by BBC Sport
After all, Emery will know he needs to use his full squad when glancing at his team’s congested fixture list to come, with Villa’s next five fixtures all coming in quick succession.
Therefore, Ramsey’s wish for more first-team minutes might well come true, with Birmingham Live journalist John Townley handing the academy product turned first-team menace a high 8/10 rating post-match to justify more inclusions.
Trying to start all of his best attacking talents in the same XI will be a conundrum Emery will be willing to embrace, with Villa eyeing up a potential Cup success come the end of the thrilling 2024/25 season.
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