Villa to be without several key players for Liverpool FA Cup clash

Aston Villa got a mixed bag of injury news from manager Tim Sherwood today ahead of Sunday's FA Cup semifinal clash against Liverpool at Wembley. After an injury crisis that has seemingly stretched over most of this calendar year, Villa will have to once again make do with a makeshift lineup that's pieced together using spit and physio's tape.

Let's start with the good news, since we so rarely get that. Ashley Westwood and Scott Sinclair are both fit and able to take the pitch for the first time since the Swansea match at Villa Park in March. Both will provide huge boosts to a lineup that will likely be attack-oriented. With so many injuries, Sherwood can't hope to force extra time as his team will be run ragged. And heck, even if it weren't for that, this is Tim Sherwood. You know he'll want to take the match to Liverpool.

And Sinclair and Westwood should provide some extra depth in a midfield that has a few problems. Carlos Sánchez, who has played pretty well at the back of a midfield diamond, picked up a red card on Saturday and is thus ineligible to play on Sunday. Westwood can easily slot in there, though.

Elsewhere, there was no news on Aly Cissokho or Alan Hutton, and both are presumed to be out. That means we'll likely see a return of Kieran Richardson: terrifying left back. And in the center of the pitch, Ciaran Clark will not be fit in time for the match. As of the press conference, Gabby Agbonlahor was facing a late fitness test, but he posted this to his Instagram a few minutes ago, and I think we can safely assume he won't play a role in the match:

A photo posted by Gabriel Agbonlahor (@ga11official) on Apr 17, 2015 at 11:43am PDT

That leaves Andi Weimann as the one senior striker to pair up top with Christian Benteke. It also drastically improves the chances of Rushian Hepburn-Murphy at least making the bench for the match.

With all of the injuries Villa have, how would you line the club up? Let us know in the comments!