Tim Sherwood: It's an exciting shot at netting glory for Villa

The quirk of fate which has seen this year's FA Cup final fall on the soon to be ex-Liverpool captain's 35th birthday has provided many a column inch over the past few months.

Tomorrow, Villa become the latest club to try and rip up the script – not that Sherwood claims to have been paying much attention.

"Believe it or not, this is not about spoiling the party for Steven Gerrard," replies the Villa boss, when the inevitable question arrives in his pre-Wembley press conference. "It's about what we can do.

"To be honest, we're hoping that he's on his holiday in May."

You sense getting caught up in what others might be doing, or thinking, isn't exactly Sherwood's style. There is an effortless swagger about the Villa manager as he sits deep in a chair at the club's Bodymoor Heath training ground, fielding questions from around a room filled full of journalists. As the response to Gerrard's situation attests, he is not shy of the one-liners and there are frequent outbursts of humour during the half-hour inquisition.

At one point, things become almost surreal as Sherwood holds up a family pack of Twix chocolate bars – a "win bonus", he reveals, from a six-year-old fan named Charlie Pye.

"He applied for the job when Paul (Lambert) left and I managed to just pip him to the post," he explains. "I wrote to him and said, 'no hard feelings, good luck next time'.

"He asked if his mom and dad could be the assistants and he said the win bonus would be sweets and chocolates!

"He sent me some Twix this morning as my win bonus for the success at Tottenham!"

The laid back atmosphere might be partly down to the fact Sherwood knows his team enter tomorrow's semi-final as underdogs against opponents always likely to steal the majority of the limelight. Yet he is also acutely aware of what the occasion means to Villa and the 32,000 supporters roaring them on under the Wembley Arch, for whom the past two decades have been bereft of both success and silverware.

Questions over fielding a weakened team therefore get short shrift.

"What do you reckon?" he retorts. "I'd be strung up, wouldn't I?

"All those fans travelling down there and I play a weakened team?

"No, it's not going to happen. I think they (the fans) have got every reason to look forward as the momentum has been good with us recently.

"We've got some good results. They can't relax, I'm not going to be relaxed about it but it's definitely a game we can win."

Sherwood is keen to stress Villa are not going to Wembley just to make up the numbers.

"It is still a very exciting game, a great opportunity for this club to get to an FA Cup final," he says. "It won't be a very good feeling if we lose, I have lost a few semi-finals myself and it is not a great feeling but we are going in there with a positive frame of mind.

"Relegation is not at stake tomorrow – it is about us getting some glory for the club.

"It's the same mindset (for the players), the mindset is to win the game and impose ourselves on a very good Liverpool side and that's what we intend to do.

"We have a good blend of players who can play and maybe go direct at times.

"We have a plan and we hope we can effect Liverpool."

For the players, much like their young manager, it is a chance to write themselves into club history.

"It's a great opportunity for any of these guys to be a hero," he says.

"It's been a long time since Villa have got to a final and then won. That's the aim - no-one will remember the team that lost in the semi final.

"There's a chance to be a hero and take this club to the final and win it."

Villa have only been to a final once in 58 years and even then, the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea back in 2000 is a memory most supporters have tried their best to erase.

In five semi-finals since Peter McParland's brace earned victory over Manchester United in 1957, they have failed to score even a single goal – their only success coming in a penalty shoot-out win over Bolton 15 years ago.

But outside the Midlands at least, all the pressure is on their opponents.

"A Reading-Villa double would be a good price," quips Sherwood, in a nod to Liverpool and Arsenal's odds-on status with the bookmakers.

"I think the pressure is on them (Liverpool) a lot more," he continues. "They need to be winning trophies, Liverpool have demanded that for centuries now.

"We hope they're a bit edgy and nervy with it, we're trying to capitalise on any advantage we possibly have."

For a team unlikely to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League, the Cup has now become the sole chance for Brendan Rodgers' men to salvage some glory in a season where the popular perception is they have fallen short.

"That's the trouble when you overachieve," says Sherwood, in slightly mischievous fashion. "Last year was an over-achievement, they finished second.

"Everyone expects them to emulate that this year, it's a tough league and not always possible. I'm sure Liverpool will be higher, in those Champions League spots, maybe come the end of the season and maybe for seasons to come.

Pressure

"I think it's a bonus for us and a priority for Liverpool. I'm not saying we're taking this game lightly because we're not, we want to get this great club to Wembley and a final.

"But I think maybe the pressure is more on them."

Much of the build-up from a Liverpool perspective has focused on the off-field activities of Raheem Sterling, a player whose career would have panned out differently – if Sherwood had anything to do about it. When coaching at Spurs, he urged the north London club to sign Sterling, then a 14-year-old on the books of QPR.

Asked about the Liverpool winger's much-publicised recent exploits with nitrous oxide and shisha pipes, he sees another chance to show his quick wit.

"Should he being doing it?" he says.

"No, but let's hope he's not laughing after Sunday!"

When the guffaws have receded, he continues: "He's a great talent, a good guy, I've known him since he was a young boy. He's someone we have has to watch and show a lot of respect to.

"Everyone knew about Raheem when he was at QPR and tried to get him. Liverpool were the fortunate ones. He was a street footballer, they are a dying breed now because society does not allow these kids to go out and play.

"Just a dribbler – dribble down the alleyway – a fantastic talent. People did not want to start taking a lot of notice of him until he got in the Victory Shield team, which is quite strange but just the way the game is now, I'm afraid.

"People don't want to put their neck on the block until they are recognised by international levels.

"Did I make the case to sign him? Absolutely, in the early days, yes. I thought he was the type of talent which doesn't fall off the trees very often. He decided to go to Liverpool and you have to say he has made a good choice."

When asked whether Villa will need to pay Sterling any special attention tomorrow, Sherwood begins listing the Liverpool's other attacking players, mentioning Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge before giving a mock nervous laugh.

The Red have quality, that much is clear. But in the likes of Jack Grealish and Christian Benteke, Sherwood believes he too has potential match-winners.

Grealish has started the last two Premier League games and Sherwood will have no qualms about giving him the chance at Wembley.

"He has got a good chance," he replies, when quizzed on the 19-year-old's prospects of playing. "I try to get into all these boys' psyche, get to know them as men, as people.

"Anyone who knows Jack, knows he isn't going to be fazed.

"He keeps stepping up. The bigger the occasion the bigger the player. And that's why he has a huge future at the club."

In Benteke, meanwhile, Sherwood has in his ranks a player capable of winning any game almost on his own. With eight goals in six games, the Belgium striker's form speaks for itself but also means his manager will have to get used to answering questions over the 24-year-old's future. Benteke has two years left to run on his contract come the end of the season, which is when Sherwood would like to leave such discussions till.

"I know better how Tottenham went about their business regarding their contracts," he says. "I'm not too sure how they go about it here, but it's certainly something that will have to be addressed.

"You don't really want players going into the last 18 months of their contract, he's someone for the long-term future of the club and you need to protect your interests.

"He's focused at the moment just on playing football and that's what I want him to be. If he wanted to come and see me next week about his future, I wouldn't want to talk to him to be honest, it would be: 'Let's leave it till the end of the season and see where we are and I'll give you an honest appraisal of where I think we can be'.

"They all can have that conversation, not just Christian. I want players here who want to be with the club for the long haul.

You can't keep having a turnover of players."

Tomorrow's game, Sherwood insists, is not coming too soon in his reign. Victory would unquestionably provide early energy and momentum to his efforts in transforming the club's fortunes for the better.

"It would be a massive lift for everyone associated with the club," he says. "I don't look at Villa as a club that is going to struggle in relegation fights in years to come.

"That's my aim, to keep us out of that. Everyone wants to push on. It is just about scrambling over the line this season and making sure we get some breathing space, giving me that pre-season to build and maybe add a few.

"But certainly to get my ideas across on how I want to move forward."

Sherwood never made it to an FA Cup final as a player but was twice beaten in the semis while at Spurs.

"I can remember the games (the semi-finals) but I don't want to remember them," says Sherwood. "No one else does, but I do as it was disappointing. No one wants to go out at this stage.

"You have regrets. Could you have done something better? Especially the Newcastle game in 1999 where we were probably fancied to win the game.

"Against Arsenal in 2001 we probably were not.

"Gary Doherty scored at Old Trafford but it was a massacre – I think it might have even been Sol Campbell's last game for Tottenham."

Avoiding relegation might be the priority at Villa Park but tomorrow is no free hit.

"We think we can win," says Sherwood, defiantly. "No one thought we could beat Tottenham at White Hart Lane, they've got a good side as well. But we did and we deserved to win.

"I want to try and make the players as relaxed as possible to go and do the job. But they're not taking it easy, this is not like a free hit, go and have a stroll in the park, this is a very intense football match, where the whole world is looking at the semi-finals of the FA Cup. "We want to make sure that we go and do ourselves justice.

"And if we play really well, we've got a real chance of winning."