Aston Villa travel to Wembley for FA Cup semi-final
Villa face Crystal Palace at 17:15 today (Saturday 26 April)
Last updated 26th Apr 2025
Aston Villa are heading to Wembley today (Saturday 26 April) as they look to secure a place in the FA Cup final.
They go against Crystal Palace in the semi-final which kicks off at 17:15.
Crystal Palace have taken a win and a draw from the sides' two Premier League meetings this season, while also besting Villa in the League Cup.
At his pre-match press conference, Manager Unai Emery said: “It’s a good opportunity for us to be in this semi-final and to enjoy this moment with our supporters, to travel to London with them and to play a match.
“My expectation is that it will be a very difficult match because they’re motivated and in a good moment. They played very well in the last match against Arsenal and it’s giving us information about how they are.
“Other information we can have is how they performed against us this year and even in the last match last year when we played there. I have massive respect for the coach, massive respect for Crystal Palace and their players, and massive respect for the semi-final.
“Every semi-final we’re facing is always being difficult. Why? Because every team is there because they deserve it. And then it’s about how we are. We are motivated like them, we’re in a good moment like them and we want to try and play this match getting our best performances individually and collectively.”
“As a coach, my challenge when I arrived here was to get some trophies during the way. This is one opportunity because we’re in a semi-final, but there is still a lot of work to do.
“When you’re getting experiences and getting some trophies during those experiences, the most important thing I enjoyed and learned was during the way, not the end. How we are doing this year in the FA Cup is really amazing.
“This is the process I want to enjoy. I want to enjoy the semi-final and everything we are going to do, from the way we are doing, travelling to London, being together, preparing the match, having some meetings, the atmosphere tomorrow in Wembley. At the end, the objective is to win, but the process is the really important thing.”
West Midlands Railway says services to and from London will be busy, and are urging fans to allow extra time for their journeys.