Key events
Aston Villa make three changes to their starting XI after last weekend’s 2-1 Premier League home win over Leicester City. Emiliano Martínez makes way for Robin Olsen in goal. Morgan Rogers and Ian Maatsen step up, while Lucas Digne drops to the bench and captain John McGinn sits this one out injured.
West Ham United also make three changes, after the strange 4-1 defeat at Manchester City that sometimes promised more but ultimately cost Julen Lopetegui his job. Łukasz Fabiański replaces Alphonse Areola in goal. Konstantinos Mavropanos and Oliver Scarles coming in, with Vladimír Coufal benched and Jean-Clair Todibo out injured. The 19-year-old midfielder Scarles, who has appeared a couple of times as a Premier League sub, will make his first start for West Ham.
The teams
Aston Villa: Olsen, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, Bailey, Barkley, Rogers, Watkins.
Subs: Gauci, Nedeljkovic, Digne, Bogarde, Onana, Ramsey, Jimoh, Buendia, Burrowes.
West Ham United: Fabianski, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Scarles, Soucek, Alvarez, Kudus, Lucas Paqueta, Summerville, Fullkrug.
Subs: Foderingham, Cresswell, Soler, Coufal, Luis Guilherme, Ings, Rodriguez, Irving, Casey.
Referee: Tim Robinson (West Sussex).
Preamble
Two grand old clubs with a proud FA Cup pedigree meet tonight. Aston Villa have won the cup on seven occasions, a record only bettered by six others, while West Ham boast three wins on their resumé, plus a supporting role in one of the competition’s greatest stories, the White Horse Final. All good and well, the only problem being that everything happened such a long time ago. West Ham haven’t won it since 1980, Aston Villa since 1957. Villa have only featured in two subsequent finals, failing to turn up in 2000 then falling apart in 2015; West Ham have only made one more, though to be fair were a last-minute lightning bolt away from victory in 2006. However for both it’s been quite the wait. Who’ll still have hope of ending theirs once we’re done here tonight? Kick-off is at 8pm GMT, and we go to extra time and penalties if necessary. It’s on!
