Ashley Young wants Aston Villa to learn from last season’s fade-out as they chase FA Cup glory and a Champions League spot in the final two months of this campaign.

Villa were in pole position to break into the Barclays Premier League top four 12 months ago as they held a five-point advantage over Arsenal, but they managed only one more victory and ended up being overhauled by the Gunners and Everton.

He told Press Association Sport: “Last season is last season. That has been put to bed now. We are looking forward and concentrating on things this season. But you can learn from last season. You can always learn from things that don’t go so well.”

He added: “We had a great cup run and got to the Carling Cup final. It was disappointing to lose but now we are in another semi-final going back to Wembley and we are doing well in the league.”

“It is a massive couple of months and fingers crossed it does go the right way, the way we want it to go. We are still in the mix in the league with a chance of finishing higher than last season and any domestic final is a fantastic one.

“We’ve achieved one and experienced the disappointment of losing and now you want to get back there and get the winners’ medal you deserve.”