Randy Lerner will attend Aston Villa’s FA Cup final against Arsenal after missing the victory over Liverpool at Wembley because of a family bereavement.

Villa chief executive Tom Fox said the American owner was delighted by the 2-1 win and upset he had not been able to make the trip across the Atlantic.

Fox, who sacked Paul Lambert and hired Tim Sherwood, said the result can get rid of the doom and gloom that hung around the club. He backed Villa to have a chance of beating his old club Arsenal, where he was commercial director until last summer, on May 30.

Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner is rarely seen at the club's games but is expected to make the FA Cup final

Lerner missed Villa's 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley, which included a goal from Fabian Delph (centre)

Fox said: ‘Randy had a family bereavement. He has a very small family and his mother's sister passed away and he wasn't able to make it.

‘What does he think about it? He's ecstatic, I have emails on the phone. He will be here for the final. He was pretty upset he couldn’t be here.

‘This is something which can create a positive atmosphere and blows through the negativity and clears it out. I hope it is the beginning of something great. If we play the way we played today I think we'll have a chance.

‘People talk about football where confidence makes a big difference. Our performances the last few games have been good. This is a way for those performances to galvanise the club and get the fans to be really behind the club.

‘We have a lot of work to do, I have been very honest about that. We have a lot of work to do to put the club back into a place where this is a thing we can do on a much more regular basis.

‘Greg Dyke made a speech before the game and I wish all of our fans could have heard it. He talked about the history of Liverpool and Villa, seven FA Cups apiece, all the semi finals we've been in, and he talks about the club in a way the fans still see the club and a way we want people to see the club.

‘Here we are heading into a final with another great club. That's the company Villa needs to keep and hopefully where we can put the club.’

England midfielder Delph (centre) fires in Villa's second goal, which proved to be the winning strike

Philippe Coutinho (centre) opens the scoring for Liverpool with a smart chipped finish at Wembley

Villa can qualify for the Europa League by beating Arsenal, which would be ahead of schedule as far as Fox is concerned. Winning silverware is of more consequence, he insisted.

‘It could be great, I wasn’t envisaging it that way,’ he said. ‘I thought we'd build to it more slowly but the thing would be winning the FA Cup. It would be a such a positive emotional driver for what we want to do. I am more focused on that than what it means for Europa League qualification.