Analysis of Villa 3 Blackburn 1
Round one to Villa – now for the main event.
The FA Cup might be the clear winner when it comes to heritage and status but, for Martin O'Neill and his team, it is the Carling Cup that takes top billing this year.
While Saturday's third round win over Blackburn was just the first step on the road to Wembley, now tomorrow's League Cup semi-final first leg with the very same opposition gives them the chance to put one foot in a major final for the first time in 14 success-starved years.
All the proof required came in the teams named by O'Neill and Rovers counterpart Sam Allardyce, who between them made 16 changes – Villa's seven to Rovers' nine. Clearly, this was a dress rehearsal.
The attendance of 25,453 – Villa's third lowest of the season – and an unusually flat atmosphere also spoke volumes. But, in spite of that, this was as perfect a weekend as O'Neill could have hoped for. First and foremost, his team got back to winning ways.
After those defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool it was imperative that Villa swiftly regained that winning habit which the final third of last season proved can be so hard to rediscover. Secondly, the Villa boss managed to give a number of key players a much-needed rest.
The spine of the team – Richard Dunne, Stiliyan Petrov, James Milner and Gabby Agbonlahor – all got the afternoon off, which should leave them raring to go tomorrow.
Thirdly, victory over Premier League opposition with a much-changed side suggested this year's squad can be relied on to deliver. James Collins, Nigel Reo-Coker, Fabian Delph – before he was forced off with illness – and Nathan Delfouneso all impressed against what, admittedly, was a poor Blackburn side who defended as badly as their current record of 10 games without a win would suggest.
Yesterday's fourth-round draw won't have gone down badly either, a home draw against lower league opposition in the shape of Gus Poyet's League One strugglers Brighton. So far, there seems no reason at all why their success in the Carling Cup can't be emulated in the FA Cup. Even Manchester United are out!
The claret and blues will rightly start tomorrow as favourites to reach Wembley next month but Rovers will no doubt be a different proposition at Ewood Park, where their uncompromising brand of physical football has already seen them beat O'Neill's men this term.
Villa can only hope they afford them the space tomorrow night as they did on Saturday afternoon. Delfouneso had the chance to make an immediate impact just two minutes in rising unmarked to meet Ashley Young's corner only to head tamely at Rovers goalkeeper Jason Brown.
The England under-19 starlet needed no second invitation 10 minutes later after drifting brilliantly into space to convert Young's arcing centre with a stooping header. Man of the Match Young, back from suspension, had one of his best games of the campaign and seemed to reap the rewards of his enforced rest for last week's Liverpool game with a thrilling performance.
While his deliveries have remained as good as ever, the England international has not thrilled the same way this season and, for one so clearly talented, has often appeared reluctant to take on his full-back.
But that was not the case on Saturday, with the only negative a meagre miss on 21 minutes when sent clean through by Reo-Coker. The provider also impressed but he too finished up with a black mark against his name for gifting Rovers a penalty 10 minutes later for a needless shirt tug on Steven Reid.
Luckily for Villa they had, in Brad Guzan, one of the world's best penalty stoppers between the sticks and once again he delivered, diving low to his left to push away David Dunn's spot-kick to make it five saves for the season – that excluding his heroics against Juventus in the Peace Cup final.
It proved to be the game's defining moment as Villa soon doubled their advantage – another stunning Young delivery expertly glanced home from 15 yards out by Carlos Cuellar, a player reborn in recent months.
Villa's grip on the game strengthened further still four minutes before the break when El-Hadji Diouf had one of his all-too familiar 'moments.'
This time it was for a horror challenge on Habib Beye, his Senegalese compatriot no less. Beye's calls for leniency fell on deaf ears though, and referee Howard Webb had no hesitation reaching for the red card – ruling Diouf out of tomorrow's game.
Delph was forced off with illness at half-time to be replaced by Steve Sidwell, who must have been frustrated at his failure to even make the starting line-up for an FA Cup game.
For a player who started 11 out of Villa's first 13 league games, this season is turning into an even more frustrating one than the last and, having left Chelsea in search of regular first-team football, you have to wonder how long the midfielder's patience will last.
Returning to on-field matters, what looked a routine victory suddenly became less certain though, when the visitors halved the deficit.
Guzan, earlier the hero, made a rare error in dropping Morten Gamst Pedersen's set-piece to leave Nikola Kalinic with the simplest of finishes. After an edgy few minutes, Villa regained control and they finished the stronger of the two sides.
Stewart Downing's claims for a penalty were waved away while Cuellar almost capped another strong showing with a second, when his bullet header from Stephen Warnock's cross flashed just over the crossbar.
Much to the delight of the home support, O'Neill brought on John Carew for the final stages and, just as he did against Hull and Stoke last month, the big Norway striker got on the scoresheet.
Having been clumsily caught inside the box by Gael Givet, the Holte End hero dusted himself down, sold Brown a dummy and coolly rolled his spot-kick into the left corner.
Now for phase two at Ewood Park.
By Brendan McLoughlin