You know a cup competition has been so devalued, that it’s almost worthless, when there’s practically no mention of tonight’s game in the news.
It’s a massive shame as it’s a competition that brings back some of my best ever memories of being a Villa fan.
Was I the only one who got down on my hands and knees in response to Tony Butler’s request to “get yer prayer mats out” in the run-up to our second replay against Everton, for instance?
I doubt it.
Heh, the things footy does to you, eh?
So over the years I’ve forgot about and had to read up on the format.
It’s seven rounds and we had a bye in the first one.
We’ve won two and if we win tonight, we’ll be in the quarter finals, which to me makes things very interesting.
It’s easy to say the competition is a waste of time, but it’s not like we’ve had to put much effort in to get this far is it?
And I think we’ll definitely win tonight, simply because we’re on a roll and Stoke er, aren’t. Actually that’s not strictly true, as they beat Wolves in the second round of the cup a couple of weeks back and won away at Preston at the weekend.
Not that I’m bothered. It might be a bit tougher than I imagined on the face of it, but I’m supremely confident that we’ll be in the hat for the quarters.
At least I would be if I knew we were going to play our strongest eleven.
Which we won’t.
Ross Barkley is cup tied, so we won’t be seeing him and he’s about the only change I might have expected from the squad that faced Bristol City in the last round anyway.
Whether it’s to give some of the second string minutes to keep them in trim should they be needed in the league or maybe a last once over by the management team before getting moved on, there’s little reason to change things just yet, in my opinion.
I actually found my password for one of the betting sites a couple of days back and was tempted to have a tenner on this one.
They don’t give much away do they?
7/4 on for the win I’m seeing.
It’s hardly worth the hassle, so I don’t think I’ll bother.
Hmm, a second glance shows I can get 15/2 for a 2-1 win and that’s much more like it.
I’m not really a betting man, but that would definitely spice things up a bit and if I do bother that’s what I’ll go for, because that’s my prediction.
You can guarantee that’s wrong then.
I thought this would be on Sky tonight, but it’s not so I don’t know how that will leave the streaming situation.
Whatever, I’d love us to progress and actually win the thing. It’s the closest we’re realistically getting to silverware this season, after all.
