I spotted what Unai Emery did before Aston Villa breakthrough as Anwar El Ghazi responds to Holte End

I spotted what Unai Emery did before Aston Villa breakthrough as Anwar El Ghazi responds to Holte End

Aston Villa are one win away from their first Wembley appearance in five years after beating Cardiff City 2-0 in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Marco Asensio scored twice in the second half to complete what was a professional job against the Championship strugglers

Marcus Rashford laid the ball on a plate for the Spaniard’s first goal, before Leon Bailey did the same his the second.

Villa will discover their quarter-finals opponents once the draw is made after Manchester United’s tie with Fulham on Sunday evening.

Here are the talking points from Villa’s win…

Emery’s call for calm pays off

To Cardiff’s credit, they defended manfully and were level for the majority of the game.

Their goalkeeper Ethan Horvath pulled off several impressive saves in the first half, otherwise Villa could have gone on to score three or four.

Cardiff’s only chance of the game came just minutes before they fell behind as Perry Ng swung in a cross from the right, finding substitute striker Yousef Salech in the box.

Emi Martinez pulled off a smart save to deny the Bluebirds striker, before Bailey led a counter-attack and then gave the ball away after trying to set Asensio free in space ahead.

After groans from the Villa Park crowd, Emery turned away from facing the Holte End and gestured that supporters should calm down and not grow frustrated.

Like magic, Villa broke the deadlock just moments later as Youri Tielemans found Rashford’s run in behind, before the Manchester United loanee assisted Asensio for his and Villa’s first of the game.

“[We] have to be confident but always respecting the opponent and we were trying to dominate,” Emery said on ITV after full-time.

“The most important thing was try to be passionate, don’t concede transitions of their attacking moment and we did it. Then progressing we had chances.

“We weren’t clinical but the second half after we scored the first goal I think we were thinking OK, our work was going well.

“We are thinking for the next match. We are in [a] quarter-final, we are happy. We know the difficulties we are going to face but enjoy each moment and today, here with our supporters, we are here performing at home very well and the cup is very important for the club, for the supporters, for ourselves but as well it is a way for a trophy.”