Palace in the FA Cup, need one of those days and match facts from the BBC

Manchester City was not what we wanted but as I wrote in the post, whatever happened that night, the other side wasn't out of the race. It would just likely mean losing another would mean they were probably out of it.

But much like we had to pick ourselves up after PSG, we have to pick ourselves up after the City match. And the City result shouldn't also be unexpected, it's just very tough to accept. But tomorrow represents a great opportunity for us.

And on our day, we can beat all the teams left in this tournament. It's just can it be our day tomorrow and if it is, we also have to hope it's our day again, for a few more matches.

Because to qualify for the Champions League again, will mean we have to have many of those 'on our day' days. And the first one tomorrow.

They don't get much bigger.

Match facts from the BBC

• Aston Villa have won none of their last four matches against Crystal Palace in all competitions (D1 L3), conceding 13 goals. Palace knocked them out of the League Cup earlier this season, with Spurs the only side to eliminate them from both the FA and League Cups in the same campaign in 1968-69.

• Crystal Palace have faced Aston Villa three times in the FA Cup and have been eliminated each time, losing 5-0 in the third round in 1912-13, 4-3 in the third round in 1961-62 and 3-1 in a fifth round replay in 2009-10.

• Aston Villa have reached the FA Cup semi-final for the first time since 2014-15, beating Liverpool 2-1 to reach the final. They’ve reached 11 FA Cup finals, with only seven teams featuring in more.

• This is Crystal Palace’s sixth FA Cup semi-final and they’ve alternated between going out at this stage (1976, 1995, 2022) and reaching the final (1990, 2016) in their previous five semi-finals.

• Aston Villa have lost six of their last eight games at Wembley, with this their first since losing 2-1 to Manchester City in the 2020 League Cup final. Their two wins in this run came in 2-1 victories against Liverpool (2015 FA Cup semi-final) and Derby County (2019 Championship play-off final).

• Crystal Palace knocked Fulham out 3-0 in this season’s FA Cup quarter-final, having been eliminated in eight of their previous 10 FA Cup ties against Premier League sides. They last knocked out more than one Premier League side in a season in 2015-16, the last time they reached the final (four teams).

• Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has progressed from each of the four single-legged semi-final cup ties he’s managed in, all with Paris Saint-Germain across 2016-17 and 2017-18 in the Coupe de la Ligue (4-1 vs Bordeaux, 3-2 vs Rennes) and Coupe de France (5-0 vs Monaco, 3-1 vs Caen).

• Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner is looking to become the first Austrian manager to reach an FA Cup final and Austria would be the first new nation represented by a manager in the showpiece event since Germany in 2021 (Thomas Tuchel for Chelsea).

• In domestic cups this season (FA and League Cup), Marcus Rashford has had a hand in six goals (4 goals, 2 assists) for Man Utd and Aston Villa. Since the start of 2016-17, he has been involved in 40 goals in 60 games these competitions (26 goals, 14 assists), more than any other Premier League player. He is yet to score or assist in an FA Cup semi-final, however, in five attempts.

• Crystal Palace’s Ismaïla Sarr has been involved in four goals in two starts against Aston Villa this season (3 goals, 1 assist), and in his five starts against Villa in all competitions in his career, he has either scored (5 goals) or assisted (2 goals) in each start.