Good afternoon! Brendan Rodgers will be speaking to the media shortly as he prepares his side for a trip to Wembley to try to secure a place in the FA Cup final. They'll face Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa.

Rodgers should be providing an update on his squad's fitness and availability for the match. Martin Skrtel can come back in after serving a suspension, and appears to have been working hard in training this morning:

PHOTO: Martin Skrtel meets the ball with a header as #LFC get ready for Sunday's trip to Wembley pic.twitter.com/TVNOFqAD80 — Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 17, 2015

Liverpool's path to the last four has been far from straight-forward. They scraped past Blackburn Rovers in a replay in the sixth round, following a narrow win over Crystal Palace in round five, and they needed late goals in their replay against Bolton in the fourth round. They'll need to be more clinical against the resurgent Villa though.

Simon Mignolet held a press conference a short time ago. The goalkeeper told reporters: "We have to stop Aston Villa and prepare the best we can and put in the performance we want to. We will analyse their strengths and weaknesses. We will prepare in a very good way. [Christian Benteke has] been scoring a lot of goals. Him and Agbonlahor have got a lot of pace. They have a good strikeforce."

Don't forget, we'll have live coverage of this match from an hour prior to kickoff, as well as team news, half time and full time reports, managerial reaction and loads more, so make sure you join us on Sunday to see whether Liverpool can progress to the final.

It's been mentioned plenty since Steven Gerrard announced that he was leaving the club, but the FA Cup final falls on the captain's birthday, and would be his final game for the side. His teammates will want to make sure that they don't deny him the chance to go out as a victorious captain at Wembley.

Rodgers is also likely to face questioning about Raheem Sterling's off the pitch behaviour after footage of him appearing to inhale laughing gas earlier this week.

In the other semi-final, defending champions Arsenal face Reading, who are the only side from outside the Premier League to make it to the last four. That match takes place tomorrow, so Liverpool and Villa will already know who awaits them in the final when they line up on Sunday.

Right then, the manager is ready to speak, so let's see what's on his mind today...

Straight to Sterling and Jordon Ibe's off the pitch behaviour, Rodgers is asked about a meeting that he had with the two players. He initially replies "none of your business", before adding: "I met with Raheem Sterling and Jordon Ibe this week and talked about football."

Mario Balotelli was named the most abused footballer on Twitter earlier this week, receiving around 8,000 offensive messages, half of which were of a racist nature. The manager says: "I was shocked when I saw that one. One message is one too many. We all support organisations trying to stamp this out."

Turning his attention to his team for this weekend, Rodgers tells reporters: "We'll give [Sturridge] every possibility to be fit for the game. [Gerrard is] definitely ready, we had a game here on Monday that he played in. He a special footballer."

Rodgers earned promotion with Swansea though the playoffs at Wembley, and says: "Winning that playoff will always be the biggest game in terms of my career and life, it was massive. No matter what era you're in you'll get judged on trophies at Liverpool."

On this weekend's opponents, Rodgers admits: "At home on the counter-attack we've been caught out against them. Away from home it's been totally different. I like Tim, he's very passionate. He's one of the British coaches who have to work harder to prove our level and he's doing that."

Rodgers also confirms that Skrtel is ready to play: "It's great to have Martin Skrtel back available. He looks fit and strong. He's very well liked and respected at the club."

Rodgers is asked about Sterling again, and he adds: "Perspective is important, he didn't do anything illegal. For me, it's about the welfare and health issues."

And that's all from a brief but upbeat Brendan Rodgers ahead of his first trip to Wembley as Liverpool manager. So, join us again on Sunday afternoon to find out if Liverpool can progress to the FA Cup final. Until then, thanks for joining me this afternoon. Goodbye.