Aston Villa midfielder Paul Merson is claiming that the FA Cup has lost some of its magic because the final is no longer being staged at Wembley.

Merson, who will be gunning for Newcastle in tonight's replay at Villa Park, feels the poor attendances in the third round are down to fans not having a day out at the Twin Towers to look forward any more in May.

Villa's own clash at St James' Park, which ended in a 1-1 draw, attracted a crowd of 35,000 - around 15,000 down on regular Premiership attendances .

But even if some of the charisma has disappeared, Merson is still determined to try and get back to the final after Villa under-achieved in last season's 1-0 reversal by Chelsea.

Merson said: ''If you saw the crowd figures in the third round, Newcastle were well down on normal, Bradford's gate was shocking and there were a couple of other shocking attendances.

''It's the most prestigious cup competition in the world but I still don't think it rings quite the same bell without a Wembley final.

''It's a great cup still and we'd all like to win but I think no Wembley final has taken a bit out of it for everyone. It's what players, staff, fans all looked forward to.

''I'd love to have another FA Cup winners' medal on the sideboard but maybe the fans have looked at the fact that the day out at Wembley has now gone and that's affected their feelings. Football is also so expensive now to watch and supporters have to pick the right games they think are worth watching.''

But Merson insisted that Villa had to be in the right frame of mind after they felt hard done by in not winning the first encounter.

He said: ''We had the hardest draw of the third round for a Premiership club and dominated the game, felt quite comfortable and felt we should have won. But it's no good sulking and saying 'we should already be through' because then you will go into the replay in the wrong frame of mind. It's important we are all tuned in for that. The fact they will have no Solano, who's scored in the two games with us this season, and Dyer through suspension is a result for us because they're their best two players without a doubt.'