Jacob Ramsey has said Aston Villa’s new signings mean the rest of the squad must ‘raise’ their level.
Ramsey scored the opening goal as Aston Villa progressed to the FA Cup’s fifth round with a 2-1 win over Tottenham at Villa Park. The midfielder latched onto Morgan Rogers’ pass before blasting a finish through Antonin Kinsky inside 59 seconds.
Rogers doubled the lead just after the hour from close range, before Mathys Tel marked his full Spurs debut with a goal to set up a nervy finish. However, Villa held on to secure a place in round five for the first time since 2014/15.
The clash saw winter window signings Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio debut and Ramsey admits the current squad depth in attacking areas is ‘unbelievable’.
đŸ†• in claret and blue pic.twitter.com/VSBD77D9Wn
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) February 9, 2025
After scoring, he admitted the high-profile recruits mean everyone must raise their level to remain in Unai Emery’s plans.
“I think it’s probably one of the best squads we have had,” he said to BBC One.
“We have got experience with [Marcus] Rashford and [Marco] Asensio coming on and Donyell Malen starting. The squad depth is unbelievable. The starting players have got to raise their game now because the players coming on are a big threat.”
On the club’s cup progress, he added: “I don’t think I have been in an FA Cup fifth round for a long, long while. I’ve been in the first team for four or five years and we have been getting knocked out in the first or second game. So, we wanted to put on a performance for the fans and we did that today.”
