Brendan Rodgers is urging his side to approach their FA Cup semi-final with Aston Villa calmly later today.

The Reds are looking to maintain their ambition of lifting silverware before the end of the season, and come up against Tim Sherwood's rejuvenated Villa in the final four this afternoon.

Four wins on the road, away at AFC Wimbledon, Bolton Wanderers, Crystal Palace and Blackburn Rovers, have given the Reds a trip to Wembley Stadium - as Brendan Rodgers' side remain just 90 minutes away from a showpiece final - their first since 2012.

But with the lure of the FA Cup trophy drawing nearer, Rodgers has revealed that his players need to stay patient, after elimination from the Capital One Cup semi-finals earlier this season.

Talking to Liverpoolfc.com, Rodgers said: "We now arrive into our second semi-final of the season. This is a really prestigious competition and the game at Wembley sets it up perfectly for us.

"We know it will be a difficult game but this club is based around winning trophies and we want to do everything we can to turn what was a disappointing season at the beginning into what will hopefully be a successful season come the end.

"The players are very committed; our young players are very hungry and committed to achieving success. They are adapting to the ways of working.

"We have got some hungry players in there and some experienced players - the likes of Steven [Gerrard], who has won a lot of trophies in his career. The balance is great for us and hopefully we can go on and do that."

Liverpool's 2014-15 campaign was in danger only two weeks ago, after back-to-back defeats at home to Manchester United and away to Arsenal put the club's top-four charge in jeaopardy.

But with a quarter-final replay at Blackburn afterwards, Liverpool weathered an early second-half storm at Ewood Park, before Philippe Coutinho repeated his heroics to fire the Reds into the semis and put Rodgers' side back on track.

"If you focus too much on the winning and solely talk about winning, it can put fear into players," said Rodgers.

"But the nature of our game is to control and dominate the ball, and for that you have to be calm in your mentality and technically good.

"That is something that obviously disappointed us in the two league games against Manchester United and Arsenal, but returned to our game against Blackburn and Newcastle.

"We know that possession in our game is important and in order to do that, you have to be calm. That's something that we'll be really focusing on for the weekend."

Rodgers comes up against a side later today who he has had a contrasting record against home and away.

At Anfield, the best Rodgers has seen his side attain is a 2-2 draw, losing 3-1 and 1-0 in the other two meetings whilst at Villa Park, Liverpool have won all three encounters under the Northern Irishman. 

He reflected: "If I look at my time here, playing against Aston Villa at home it has not been so good. But away, we have dealt fairly comfortably with it and played really well. I suppose this will be like an away game.

"We're looking forward to it. It's a one-off game. We've got players that have got great experience of Wembley, we've also got really talented players that are looking forward to playing on the big stage and we've got experienced players.

"But we also respect that Aston Villa have got good players as well. These games are normally always tight and I'm sure that Sunday will be no different.

"In most games, Liverpool will go into it normally as favourites because of the sheer size of the club and the talent that we have. We're happy to accept that, but Aston Villa have been playing well.

"They have changed the shape of their team and [Christian] Benteke is a striker who is doing well at the moment, supported well by [Gabriel] Agbonlahor and their team is working well.

"They had a good result against Tottenham so that will give them confidence and they can maybe feel they can take their eye a little bit off the league, even though they'll probably have a bit of work to do in that.

"We're not being complacent in any way at all - we know it's a tough game and we'll be ready for a tough game."

The Reds cannot afford to get carried away with the prospect of winning the trophy, knowing the threat that Villa provide under Sherwood.

But Rodgers was keen to reiterate just how vital an FA Cup triumph could be to his largely youthful side.

"It's going to be important for us, we can't underestimate it," added the Liverpool manager.

"When you're striving to be up there and competing, the confidence that it would give - for the players to be stood up on the podium and having won a trophy - they'll see that this is a place where you can win.

"In my two-and-a-half years here, the concentration in the first couple of years was to get towards the top four. After implementing the philosophy in the first year, we went on a great ride in the second year and brought the title down to the very last day.

"This year was about trying to consolidate that even though it was going to be really difficult because of everything that was going to happen at the club.

"This year was about focusing on the trophies and the cups; we reached one semi-final and we're now in another one, so we've shown the intent that we want to win.

"Over the last couple of years, the players have consistently been very good. The competition is now far greater than it has ever been in terms of teams competing.

"For us to win a trophy this year would really be a springboard for the development of the team, and that is something we're pushing very hard to do."