Backed by a travelling claret and blue army numbering 5,000, Marc Albrighton is one of Villa’s reliable foot soldiers ready to lead the ‘revenge mission’ against Arsenal.

Villa head to the Emirates Stadium for the FA Cup fourth round tie still chastened by their 2-1 home Premier League defeat to Arsene Wenger’s side in December, when they outplayed the Gunners only to suffer the heartbreak of a late Yossi Benayoun goal.

And Albrighton, who scored a belter for Villa that night – the 20,000th Premier League goal – claimed his team-mates have fixed their bayonets intent on retribution.

The winger said: “We had a few games before Arsenal – Manchester United and Liverpool – where although we lost we knew we hadn’t performed well, either.

“A lot of the fans were questioning our passion and commitment, but I think we answered those critics against Arsenal and did really well.

“We felt hard done by, definitely. Arsene Wenger even said that he felt his side were slightly lucky to come away with three points. So it could be classed as a revenge mission tomorrow.

“I can’t wait. We did well against Arsenal last time and hopefully we can take that performance and get the right result.

“It was a memorable occasion for me personally scoring the 20,000 Premier League goal. I am looking forward to going down there. Hopefully, I can keep up my good form and do well against them.”

Albrighton was primarily used as an impact player from the bench by Alex McLeish earlier in the season but has started to establish himself as a battle-hardened regular in the first-team.

It means the 22-year-old faces the prospect of being on the same pitch as one of the players he admired while he was growing up in Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, who scored his side’s decisive goal against Leeds in the last round.

But the Villa winger vehemently insisted the sentiment of facing arguably the greatest player of English football’s foreign legion will not result in him adopting a policy of appeasement.

Albrighton explained: “It would be great to come up against Thierry Henry. What a player he is – I watched him growing up.

“But we have to look past that and concentrate on our own job which is trying to get through to the next round, which I think we are capable of.

“I am looking forward to it. We will travel down there full of confidence after last weekend’s performance and result against Wolves. We played really well. Hopefully, we can pull off what would be classed as a shock and get the result there.

“I watched them at the weekend and that’s probably where they looked most vulnerable, down the flanks.

“Was it Manchester United being so good attacking down there or was it poor defending? I don’t really know but if there’s a weakness there, hopefully, I can get at it.”

One player guaranteed a feisty reception from the home crowd at the Emirates Stadium is ex-Tottenham striker Robbie Keane.

Keane, at Villa on a two-month loan from Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy, is set to start after his two goals against former club Wolves last weekend.

But Albrighton believes the experienced Irishman’s role as a creator rather than goalscorer could be crucial for the claret and blues on Sunday.

The wide man said: “Robbie thinks one step ahead of everyone else. Not only does he see the pass before everyone else, he has the ability to execute it, too.

“He’s never played really as a target man, as such, he drops off into gaps and little pockets of space and he can punish people from finding these areas.

“He has the ability to thread the balls through to people like Darren Bent, Gabby Agbonlahor and myself and, if he doesn’t do that and decides to shoot instead, we have all seen what happens then!

“But he’s not only a great person to play with he’s also a nice guy to have around the place, too.

“The young boys look up to him and know they can learn from him. To be training with a player with the wealth of experience like Keano is just brilliant.”