Jacob Ramsey put the seal on Aston Villa's FA Cup quarter-final win over Preston North End on Sunday
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Jacob Ramsey
Jacob Ramsey(Image: Getty Images)
Jacob Ramsey is relishing the prospect of stepping onto the Wembley pitch for the first time in his career after helping Aston Villa reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
He rounded off the scoring in Villa’s 3-0 win over Preston North End on Sunday night, firing past David Cornell from the edge of the box.
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Ramsey’s strike in the 71st minute came after a quick-fire double from Marcus Rashford, as the Manchester United loanee bagged his first two goals since joining the club.
“For me it’s a little bit more special – growing up as a Villa fan,” Ramsey said of progressing to the final four of the FA Cup. “Obviously I’ve been to Wembley twice, maybe three times. Semi-final and final in the cup and then the play off.
“I remember watching Jack – one of his standout performances when he was really young was against Liverpool. The final against Arsenal. The play-off final against Derby.
“But this will be my first one in the squad so I’m going to enjoy it, my family will be coming”
He added: “The next two months need to be our best two months of the season. That’s what the boss keeps saying – we’ve got big games in the Champions League against PSG.
“But also the games this week against Brighton and Forest – they are massive games for us trying to get back in the Champions League next season.
“Even in pre-season the boss made it very clear that the Premier League is the main goal. The other competitions come after.
“As players you love playing in the Champions League and you always want to be focussed but the boss is so good at reminding us – what we do in the Champions League this year doesn’t matter if we don’t qualify for next year. So for us players it's the Premier League.”
Despite Rashford’s brace, Ramsey was arguably Villa’s man of the match against Preston, as he bagged his second FA Cup goal of the season to seal the victory.
Asked if he feels back to his best, Ramsey said: “To be fair it’s been coming for quite a while. I spoke after the Celtic game and I felt then it was coming, it’s so hard coming back from injury after injury.
“You feel like you are getting there and then you get another niggle. So fingers crossed now that I can keep going.”
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