U18 Preview: Aston Villa vs Saints

Aston Villa vs Saints

FA Youth Cup Fourth Round

Villa Park

Tuesday 17th January, 14:00 GMT

Southampton face a trip to the Midlands for the second round in a row after they knocked out Coventry City in the third round of the competition back in December.

Dom Ballard hit a hat-trick in a game that went the distance into extra time, with the winner coming in the 120th minute.

The young Saints advanced with a 3-2 win, but did fall to a 2-0 league defeat against Norwich a week later in their final game before the winter break.

Aston Villa stormed their way into the fourth round of the competition with a 5-0 victory over Brentford at Villa Park in December.

They raced into a three-goal lead inside half an hour with a brace from Rory Wilson and a goal from Kobei Moore, before Wilson completed his hat-trick in the second half with Finley Munroe wrapping up the scoring from the penalty spot.

However, since then, the young Villans have suffered back-to-back defeats in the league with a crushing 5-2 result against West Ham in their most recent outing.

LAST MEETING

Saints kicked off the 2022/23 season at home against Aston Villa in a dramatic six-goal thriller that ended 3-3 at Staplewood Campus.

Tommy-Lee Higgs, Rylee Wright, and Will Merry were on the scoresheet in an end-to-end encounter, with the point ultimately saved with Merry's goal in the 86th minute.

Goalkeeper Adli Mohamed, who started in between the sticks last round against Coventry, highlighted the importance of the occasion ahead of him and his teammates:

"It's a big competition, we're just really excited to play at such a big stadium in front of the fans really.

"For a lot of us, this our last year being able to play in the FA Youth Cup, so if we can go on as far as I think we can do it will be an unbelievable achievement for all of us."

Adults: £5

Under-18: £2