The January transfer window got off to a painfully slow start, but it ended with a mad rush of tremendous activity. Aston Villa were as active as anybody in the FA, bringing over the likes of Marcus Rashford, Donyell Malen, Axel Disasi and Marco Asensio. All but one of this foursome are eligible to make their Villans debut on Sunday, at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Disasi is cup-tied to Chelsea, so he is prohibited from featuring here.
FA Cup 4th Round FYIs
Tottenham Hotspur at Aston Villa
Kickoff: Sun. Feb. 9, 5:35pm, Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
Team News: Tottenham Aston Villa
Starting XI Predictions: Tottenham Aston Villa
Fun Fact: a win here gives Aston Villa their first FA Cup 5th round appearance since 2014-15. In that tournament, the Villans finished runner-up to Arsenal.
Aston Villa Team News
Rashford has been frozen out at Manchester United so long that he didn’t even feature for them in the previous round of the FA Cup, and he is thus not cup-tied to the Red Devils. Expect a substitute appearance off the bench from him here.
Five guys that will not feature, as already confirmed by Villa manager Unai Emery on Friday are:
Ross Barkley (calf), Ollie Watkins (groin), Pau Torres (ankle), Matty Cash (unspecified) and Tyrone Mings (knee).
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.