Hutton puts emphasis on Aston Villa progress

Alan Hutton has moved to brush off Aston Villa's FA Cup disappointment and insisted they are making progress.

The defender reckons the club have made strides under boss Tim Sherwood despite Saturday's 4-0 final rout at the hands of Arsenal.

It ended another season of struggle for Villa as they finished 17th in the Barclays Premier League, just three points above the drop zone.

They never handled the Gunners at Wembley and we deservedly beaten but Hutton refused to be downbeat.

"We have definitely made progress, there is no point in being down about it, we have to be positive," said the Scotland international.

"We stayed up, which was our main aim, and to get to the FA Cup final was an achievement in itself.

"You cannot take being down about losing at Wembley into next season. I am sure the manager is going to strengthen the squad and there will be good competition for places, so we can have a good run at it."

Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud scored to down Villa as the Gunners defended the trophy they won last season.

Villa never threatened and failed to have a shot on target in the entire game, having just two efforts at goal, compared to Arsenal's 25.

Boss Sherwood revealed afterwards he has already told some players they can leave as he plots a major summer overhaul at the club.

He replaced Paul Lambert in February and steered Villa to survival and captain Fabian Delph believes the squad must now change their mentality.

"The manager said that we had it in us to cause an upset but we couldn't find the performance," he told BBC Sport. "But a few weeks ago we would have snapped your hand off to stay in the league and get to this final. Now it's important that we get a winning mentality.

"We have to forget about Saturday, some players will come through the door to strengthen us and I am sure we will get better and better."