Everton v Aston Villa: Winner can take the FA Cup, says Derek Mountfield
Feb 13 2009 By Mat Kendrick
Former Aston Villa and Everton defender Derek Mountfield is tipping the victor of this weekend’s FA Cup showdown to go all the way to Wembley.
A place in the last eight of football’s most famous domestic knock-out competition awaits the winner of Sunday afternoon’s fifth-round tie at Goodison Park.
Villa have not progressed to the FA Cup final since their 2000 defeat to Chelsea while for Everton the wait is even longer, although they did beat Manchester United in 1995.
Mountfield, popular at both clubs during his spells in the 1980s, believes a taste of Wembley glory is long overdue for Villa and the Toffees. “With the way Villa are playing I don’t expect them to finish out of the top four and if they do it will be a massive disappointment to them now,” he said. “But the FA Cup is still a big deal to them because they haven’t been to a final for nine years and haven’t won it for goodness knows how long.
“For Everton, although they’ve been doing well too lately, the cup is probably their best chance of any kind of success this season.
“It’s not right that two clubs the size of Villa and Everton haven’t made it to the cup final more recently than they have. No disrespect to the likes of Portsmouth, Cardiff, Millwall and Southampton but the cup final should be about big clubs like Villa and Everton.
“With the way it’s opened up this season I think whoever gets through this tie has got a great chance of going all the way to Wembley - if not winning it.”
