Unai Emery explains why Aston Villa want 'revenge' on three fronts this season
Unai Emery has declared Villa out for “sporting revenge” as they look to erase 30 years of hurt and the pain of two semi-final defeats.
Villa host Newcastle in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday evening, aiming to keep alive their quest for glory on three fronts.
Both the Cup and the Europa League offer the chance to end the club’s long wait for a major trophy.
But Emery says he and his players are further motivated by their own experience of heartbreak, after losing in the semi-finals of the Cup and Conference League in the last two seasons.
Villa, who sit third in the Premier League, are also aiming to qualify for next season’s Champions League after missing out on goal difference last May.
Emery said: “We have our sporting revenge, collectively and individually in everything.
“In Europe, in the semi-final we played. Last year in the FA Cup. We even have our sporting revenge from last year, finishing sixth in the league and missing out on the Champions League on goals.
“We have that as sporting revenge, with the teams we have in front. Tomorrow, Newcastle and the months ahead, trying to achieve something better than the last years.”
Next month will mark the 30th anniversary of Villa’s 1996 League Cup win, their last major silverware.
Asked if he felt any extra responsibility to end the drought, Emery replied: “I am feeling always so, so responsible about everything I am doing.
“My responsibility always is massive. But I am not feeling pressure for it.
“I am feeling something like motivation, like excitement at our expectation to get better and compete for it.
“I am not stopping in my focus for our objective, or my objectives. To get a trophy is something fantastic but to achieve it is very difficult.”
Villa are expected to again be without right-back Matty Cash for what is their first FA Cup meeting with Newcastle since a Darius Vassell goal earned them a 1-0 third round replay win in 2001.
The tie comes less than three weeks after Emery’s men triumphed 2-0 on Tyneside in the Premier League but the manager is wary of Eddie Howe’s visitors - who he believes are also contenders to win the competition.
He said: “To get a trophy is something fantastic but to achieve it is very difficult.
“Here in England every domestic competition is so, so difficult. In the Carabao Cup the final is Arsenal and Manchester City. Wow.
“Now we are in FA Cup, every team wants to win it. Tomorrow, Newcastle is another contender to get this trophy. Of course, we can feel like a contender as well, yes, but there are other teams in front of us.
“Newcastle are doing very well in the Champions League. Sometimes they are up and down but when they are up, they are so, so strong and they showed it in their last match against Tottenham. They played a fantastic game.”
