ASTON VILLA WILL play Arsenal in this year’s FA Cup final after coming from behind to stun Liverpool at Wembley.
Goals from Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph, either side of the interval, fired Tim Sherwood’s side into a first final since 2000 and one win away from their first piece of domestic silverware in two decades.
Philippe Coutinho’s opener was soon cancelled out by Benteke shortly before half-time and then Delph latched onto Jack Grealish’s reverse pass to fire Villa into the lead.
More than a century after his great, great grandfather lifted the famous cup with Villa, Grealish was handed a start on the biggest afternoon of his young career.
The midfielder, who has started the last two Premier League outings, admitted earlier in the week it would be a special moment if he was to play for his boyhood club at Wembley, following in the footsteps of his forefather.
The 19-year-old decided to take a break from international football this season to concentrate on breaking into the first team at Villa Park but admitted he was prepared to return to the Ireland set-up in September.
Grealish has featured heavily in Villa’s run to the last four but was sent-off during the quarter-final win over West Brom after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Ireland’s Shay Given was recalled to the side for the game having played in all of the previous rounds, although Ciaran Clark missed out through injury.
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Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, started for Liverpool with Lucas Leiva absent through injury.
The Reds skipper has played just 27 minutes of football since February and has just returned from the three-game suspension he served for his sending-off against Man United last month.
