Aston Villa travel to Championship side Middlesbrough this evening looking to end their woeful record in the FA Cup.
Since making it to the final against Arsenal in 2015, Aston Villa have only made it past the fourth round once and have failed to make it past the third round for eight consecutive seasons.
Unai Emery wants his team to compete across all fronts this term and will take every competition seriously.
Ahead of their fixture against Middlesbrough, the Spaniard has hinted at making some changes in his pre-match conference.
He said: “When we were speaking about the respect for this competition, it is not really showing it with the starting XI players, it is showing it how we prepare for the match in the meetings.
“Then, I am going to respect them and doing this way, as well playing maybe with different players in the last match, or maybe the same players, but I want to get the performances thinking to play getting our best level.”
Emery made wholesale changes in last seasons third round clash as Villa tasted an embarrassing defeat against League Two Stevenage.
He will want to avoid that from happening again, though it is likely he’ll rotate his side, perhaps resting Ollie Watkins for Jhon Duran and bringing in Nicolo Zaniolo.
As a result of Leon Bailey’s blistering form, opportunities for the Italian have been at a premium, but he could start alongside Duran at the Riverside.
Why Nicolo Zaniolo should start vs Middlesbrough
If Zaniolo is to make his loan spell at Villa a successful one, Emery has to throw him into matches like these.
After not starting in his last six Premier League fixtures, despite scoring the vital equaliser from the bench against Sheffield United, the 24-year-old will be hungry to show his worth here.
The on-loan Galatasaray attacker has shown glimpses of his talent, but unfortunately, he hasn’t shown it on a regular basis.
Italy manager Luciano Spalletti previously outlined one reason why, stating that Zaniolo has to improve his self-discipline to become a top footballer.
There aren’t many better places to show self-discipline than travelling to a Championship side in the FA Cup.
Boro will be hungry to pull off an upset and extend Villa’s seasons without reaching the fourth round to nine.
Zaniolo, who was once labelled by former Roma teammate Danielle De Rossi as “incredible”, could have a golden opportunity to help kickstart what his side hopes will be a long cup run.
