Eberechi Eze has insisted Crystal Palace have the belief they can win the club’s first major trophy after booking their place in the FA Cup final thanks to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Aston Villa.
The England forward scored a brilliant opener before Ismaïla Sarr added two more goals in the second half to set up a meeting with either Manchester City or Nottingham Forest next month. It will be the third time in their history that Palace have played in the final, having been beaten on the previous two occasions in 1990 and 2016 by Manchester United.
But Eze, who scored his first goal for England last month against Latvia on his last appearance at Wembley, is adamant Oliver Glasner’s side are ready to make history this time.
“We want to go all the way and we believe we can do it: 100%,” he said. “We have shown performances like this all the time, we’re not worried or fearful of facing anyone. I trust that we will put in the work and hopefully we can do it.”
A delighted Glasner paid tribute to his players for executing their game plan perfectly as Palace saw off Villa for a third time in four meetings this season.
“All the credit to the players. They had to work so hard. They had to overcome a few difficult moments,” he said. “We got more control and it was an unbelievable performance today. The players stuck to the plan and we never lost our heads. But we still have one step to go. When you play a final you want to win it so I’m really proud to see how happy everyone is. We can watch the semi-final tomorrow quite relaxed on the sofa.”
Unai Emery revealed that Marcus Rashford was ruled out after picking up a hamstring injury in training. The on-loan Manchester United forward, who was at Saturday’s boxing bout between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, is expected to be out for “some weeks” in a blow to Villa’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League next year. Emery urged his players to bounce back from another disappointing result after losing in midweek to Manchester City.
“We have to take from our experiences to become more mature,” he said. “We have improved a lot in two years and now is the moment we have to dominate our frustration. Today we didn’t perform like we have been this season.”
Villa’s captain, John McGinn, added: “We’re going to use the hurt from today to come back stronger next season and hopefully get the supporters another trip to Wembley. The overriding feeling is hurt and disappointment. We’ve got an important last four games to achieve European football again and get us back to the Champions League so we can’t sulk for too long.”
