Sherwood’s Villa hoping to belie FA Cup record against Liverpool

In the last six FA Cup meetings between Aston Villa and Liverpool, going all the way back to 1914, the latter have always won to nil. You can back them for victory in 90 minutes without conceding once more at a tempting 8/5 price with Coral.

However, their last meeting in this competition was back in 1996 and they since have had a decent record against the Reds in the Premier League, winning four, losing six and drawing two of their previous 12 head-to-heads.

Tim Sherwood has certainly brightened up things at Villa Park since his arrival too, and claimed a crucial away victory over his former club Spurs in the top-flight last time out. You can back the Villans at 16/1 to beat the Reds in extra time, while they are 12/5 to qualify for their first FA Cup final since 2000.

But Brendan Rodgers’ men are the odds-on favourites both for victory in 90 minutes at 4/7, and 1/3 to meet the winner of Reading and Arsenal.

Potential new Reds skipper, when Steven Gerrard leaves in the summer for LA Galaxy, Jordan Henderson is particularly motivated to make it to the final.

“I always think of losing the FA Cup final rather than winning the League Cup in 2012,” the former Sunderland midfielder said. “Setbacks like that inspire you to want more. You tend to remember the ones you lose more.

“The final against Chelsea (which Liverpool lost 2-1) always sticks out for me and to put that right would be fantastic.

“We need to concentrate on the semi-final. If we keep doing what we’ve been doing I’m sure we’ll get a good result.”

Henderson, who has got seven goals in all competitions this term, is 7/2 to score anytime again. Daniel Sturridge (6/5), Raheem Sterling (5/4) and Philippe Coutinho (2/1) are also ones to look out for, as they’ve all found the net in the FA cup this term.

For Aston Villa, Christian Benteke is the main man, as the big Belgian has scored four in his last five games against Liverpool. He’s also got an impressive eight in his previous six Premier League matches, so is a tempting 15/8 shout in the anytime market.

If you fancy Joe Cole to get a goal against his former club, you can take a tempting 6/1 price.