Aston Villa: The view from the opposition

Taylor played 296 games for Villa, scoring 43 goals in his nine years at the club. He won the League Cup in 1996 and played in the 2000 FA Cup final, which his side lost 1-0 to Chelsea.

Ian, how much are you looking forward to seeing Aston Villa at Wembley again, and are you going?

Yes, I'll be there, I'm lucky enough to have got in the royal box, so I'll have a nice spot and I'm really looking forward to it.

The season seems to have turned around a bit for Villa - does that give you some optimism about causing an upset on Sunday?

We're more upbeat than we were a few months ago, definitely. I think the new manager's brought a new lease of life and a new sense of optimism. Results have been good, we got a good win last week, which got a big deal of confidence into the squad.

Do you think Villa will benefit from being underdogs?

I think all the pressure is on Liverpool at the moment. We're going into the game with nothing to lose and no-one's expecting us to win so we'll be looking forward to it.

Who will be your danger men?

I think obviously [Christian] Benteke, he's in a rich vein of form at the moment. It's crazy to think that we were struggling to score goals during the season with the goals that we're scoring now, so I can't understand that, but I think the new manager has probably ripped the shackles off the players a little bit and encouraged the midfielders to get forward and create more, so I think that's been to our benefit.

Will the tactics be to try to get Benteke on the ball as much as possible then?

We have looked to get the ball to him a lot, lot more in recent games. Obviously he's the focal point of our attack and he's the main goalscorer so it tells you that we have to get the ball to him. It's been documented in recent weeks that we have been getting the ball to him a lot more so that's going to be part of the game plan I'm sure.

Who in the Liverpool team are you worried about from a Villa perspective?

It depends who plays. I'm a big admirer of Daniel Sturridge. I'm not sure whether he's going to be fit or not, but I know him quite well and he's a really dangerous player and I love the way he plays. If he doesn't play then obviously Raheem Sterling is a very dangerous player. I like Lallana as well, but I'm not sure he's going to be fit but it shows Liverpool have got a strong squad and whoever comes in will be dangerous.

On Tim Sherwood, have you spoken to him since he's been at the club and what's he like as a manager?

I spoke to him just before he got to the club when he was down watching a few games - whether he knew he was coming in then I don't know. I've spoken to him since as well and he's just upbeat, enthusiastic. I think he knows the game, he wants to instil his personality into the club, and I like the way he manages the football club with a smile on his face.

You have rather mixed memories of Wembley, winning one final there and losing one. Obviously this is a semi-final, but how do you deal with a big Wembley occasion and what's the difference between winning and losing?

I've tasted both really. In 1996 we turned up, in 2000 we didn't. So it's one of those, who turns up on the day and what clicks for you on the day. In 1996 everything clicked for us and everything went the way that we wanted it to. In 2000 we prepared the same way, but it just didn't go for us, people didn't play well and we lost the game.

What advice would you have for your team ahead of Sunday's game?

Everyone says go and try to enjoy it, but big occasions call for big players and big personalities, so the more of them you have on the pitch on the day, the more chances you have to win. So you need those players who aren't going to be shrinking violets on the day and probably have got that little bit more experience of the big occasion and that will bring you through.