Aston Villa full-back Kaine Kesler-Hayden has offered his immediate reaction to the FA Cup draw after Preston North End were handed a home tie against Unai Emery's side.
The 22-year-old is likely to be ineligible to play in the quarter-final after the Lillywhites booked their place in the last-eight for the first time since the 1965/66 season, following their 3-0 win over local rivals Burnley. He made the loan switch to the Championship side at the beginning of August and has 39 appearances across all competitions, contributing three assists.
Kesler-Hayden was awarded the Player of the Match during the win after Robbie Brady, Milutin Osmajic and Will Keane were on target for Paul Heckingbottom's side.
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Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the Villa youngster posted the melting face emoji after Dennis Irwin and Danny Murphy completed the draw. Preston are the lowest-ranked team in the competition as they sit 14th in the Championship but it is another second-tier side for Villa after beating Cardiff City on Friday.
Speaking last month, Kesler-Hayden claimed that he has improved during his time at Deepdale.
“Yeah, I think it's the one where I feel most involved and most like I've improved my game," he said via the Lancashire Post. “If I looked from the first game that I played here, I think I've massively improved in different areas.
"If you compare both games... Middlesbrough and then the first game, Luton, I think you could tell massive differences. I owe that to the management and yeah, the games are thick and fast and I'm just going to keep learning, so hopefully that can continue.
"It's not too far... I go home quite often to see family and stuff. Family is massive to me, seeing my parents and stuff like that - they all come to the games. And yeah, settled in quickly, really fast.
"When I first came here it was the easiest place I've ever had to settle in with, especially with the group of lads that we have. Coming here and being able to settle in quickly... I think that's helped me in the games massively."
