FA Cup door swings open for Crystal Palace, but Villa stand in way

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Crystal Palace have never won the FA Cup, Aston Villa last lifted the trophy in 1957 and Nottingham Forest have not managed it since 1959 but all three clubs go into this weekend's semi-finals genuinely believing this could be their year.

Manchester City, who face Forest on Sunday, make up the quartet and would ordinarily be huge favourites to win the historic knockout competition for the eighth time.

But with Pep Guardiola's City experiencing a disappointing campaign, it looks wide open and Palace may never have a better opportunity to deliver the first major trophy in the south London club's 119-year history.

Villa, who lost to Arsenal in the 2015 final, represent a sizeable obstacle for Oliver Glasner's side but the way Palace played in a 2-2 draw at Arsenal on Wednesday augurs well.

"They (Aston Villa) are in great shape -- they have eight wins out of the last 10," Austrian Glasner, whose side are 12th in the Premier League standings, told reporters on Friday.

"They have their whole squad available. It's a game, I don't want to make it bigger than it is. We feel well prepared and we have confidence, especially with the performance at the Emirates and this is how we'll enter Wembley."

Palace reached the final in 1990 and were minutes away from beating Manchester United only to draw 3-3 and them lose the replay 1-0. They made the final again in 2016, again pushing United hard but losing in extra time.

Beat Villa on Saturday and fans will believe it could be third time lucky.

"Obviously we're excited," Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson told the club's website. "We'd love to write history. We went to Marbella and the manager spoke to us about it, saying we've got a chance to write history.

"If we did get the opportunity to lift silverware, it'd be phenomenal. It'd be a dream come true for not only the players, but obviously the supporters as well, and this football club."

Palace will be boosted by the return of wing back Ben Chilwell who missed the trip to Arsenal with illness.

Villa suffered a stoppage-time defeat by City this week that put a dent in their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League for the second successive season having been beaten by Paris St Germain in a thrilling quarter-final this month.

They are still very much in the hunt for a top-five league finish but manager Unai Emery's focus is squarely on the FA Cup and a Palace side who have taken four points from Villa this season.

"I have massive respect for the coach, massive respect for Crystal Palace and their players, and massive respect for the semi-final," Spaniard Emery told a press conference.

"As a coach, my challenge when I arrived here was to get some trophies during the way. This is one opportunity because we're in a semi-final, but there is still a lot of work to do.

"We are motivated like them, in a good moment like them, and we want to try and play with our best performance collectively and individually." (Reporting by Martyn Herman Editing by Christian Radnedge)