Marcus Rashford’s Aston Villa renaissance still needs work – but FA Cup offers historic opportunity

Marcus Rashford had come from Wembley and now he is heading back there. His renaissance has included a pair of outings for England, Thomas Tuchel ending his international exile, and now he has powered Aston Villa to the national stadium. An FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace beckons for a club who have not won the competition since 1957. Rashford’s time at Villa Park may only last a few months, and no decision has been made whether to activate the ?40m clause to sign him permanently, but it has the potential to prove historic.

For him, it could bring the rare double, joining Olivier Giroud and Brian Talbot among those to win the FA Cup in successive seasons with different clubs. For now, he has scored in a quarter-final win in consecutive campaigns. For Unai Emery, whose prowess in knockout competitions has tended to be demonstrated on European stages, it might make him Villa’s first trophy-winning manager since Brian Little in 1996. For now, he has ended the Championship’s representation in the FA Cup and extended still longer waits: Preston still have not reached a semi-final since 1966, or won major silverware since 1938. Rashford’s brace and a fine Jacob Ramsey goal ensured that remains the case.

But Rashford’s own drought had started to feel lengthy. Even as a revival brought him roles in Villa goals, he had not scored any. Even with an England recall, there was no strike to cap the journey from his purgatory at Manchester United. He was largely anonymous in attack in the first half at Deepdale – leading the line while Ollie Watkins began on the bench – but altogether deadlier in the second. He has tended to operate as a winger for Villa but Emery put him in a position to score more. He explained: “He’s playing in the idea, in the plan we did with him. We decided to play in the standing 11 as a striker to try to get from him his quality, his power.”

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And goals can be a symbol of that. Emery added: “He made one step forward, feeling comfortable, getting confident, scoring goals. There is still work to do, still weeks to get it.” Rashford concurred: he is not at his best, but is at least heading in the right direction. The man Ruben Amorim jettisoned is being rejuvenated. “I feel like I’ve been getting fitter and playing better football since I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s always nice for a forward to get a goal so hopefully it continues.”

After nine Villa appearances without scoring, after a drought spanning 14 matches for clubs and country, lasting almost four months, Rashford had two goals in five minutes.

There was a false start to it, a tentative touch that allowed Preston’s reserve goalkeeper Dai Cornell to gather seemingly a sign of a lack of conviction. Two surer finishes suggested otherwise. Rashford guided in a shot from Lucas Digne’s low cutback – a classic Emery goal, with the overlapping run in the inside-left channel and the finish from between the width of the posts – and rolled a penalty past Cornell after Andrew Hughes trod on Morgan Rogers’ foot.

It was a reward of sorts for Rogers, denied by Jayden Meghoma’s goal-line clearance seconds earlier and the brightest of Villa’s attackers.

Villa soon had a third. Ramsey powered forward to place a shot in the bottom corner. The enterprising Digne had provided the pass and was then denied a hat-trick of assists when Watkins, with his first touch, headed the Frenchman’s free-kick narrowly wide. Watkins was profligate in his cameo but it scarcely mattered. Villa were dominant after the break, and it felt familiar.

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They have been second-half specialists in this season’s FA Cup run, eight of their nine goals coming after the interval. Moribund before the break, they seemed transformed by Emery’s intervention at the interval. There was, too, a repeat of their previous game against Club Brugge: 0-0 after 45 minutes, 3-0 after 90. They have a destructive dynamism. “That five-minute spell took the game away from us,” lamented Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom. “Bang, bang and the game is gone.”

It was a long time coming for Preston, whose previous quarter-final came almost six decades ago. But this is a fixture with its roots in the 19th century. Preston knocked out the holders Villa in 1888, a few months before the Football League began. They had their eye on a 21st-century sequel, frustrating Villa in the first half, congesting the centre of the pitch with a fluid 3-5-2 formation and getting, and spurning, the best chance, when Stefan Thordarson headed wide from a few yards.

They had further reasons to rue that. The draw specialists were unbeaten at home in 15 matches before a bit of R&R – Rashford and Ramsey – rendered their first-half resistance irrelevant. It became Villa’s biggest FA Cup win since 1999. They can hope for something more seismic in the semi-final. “This competition means a lot for supporters and to play in Wembley will be fantastic,” said Emery. It will be Villa’s first visit there for five years, Rashford’s for a few weeks.