Carabao Cup: Aston Villa v Stoke preview

Beat Stoke tonight and they will become the first Villa team to ever win the opening five matches of a campaign.

Though the achievement would be slightly skewed by the fact three of the games will have been in cup competition against lower league opposition, the fact it is even possible further emphasises why there is such a feelgood factor around the club at present.

From starting down the barrel of relegation less than three months ago, Villa can suddenly do no wrong, winning their last two matches in impressive fashion despite Smith naming completely different teams for each.

The line-up for tonight’s Carabao Cup fourth round tie is likely to be similar, if not exactly the same, as that which brushed aside Bristol City in such impressive fashion seven days ago.

Keinan Davis, Anwar El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore will again form the forward three, with Jacob Ramsey handed another chance to impress after making his Premier League debut in Monday’s victory at Fulham.

Villa, of course, reached the final of last season’s competition and a win tonight would set up another deep run. Though the visit of Premier League champions on Sunday might be looming large, Smith does not want his team to lose momentum.

“I’m delighted with how things are going,” he said. “We changed the entire team for the Bristol City game and put in one heck of a performance.

“The lads then followed it up on Monday. We have to get ourselves ready for Stoke now.”

The Potters have experienced an unspectacular start to their own season but have made good progress in the cup, winning 1-0 at Molineux to dump Wolves out at the second round stage.

Boss Michael O’Neill is still in the thick of a squad revamp at the Bet365 Stadium yet admits his team should need no added motivation for a trip to Villa Park.

“It’s a great game for us against a team who have started the season very well,” he said. “When you are going up against Premier League opposition as a Championship team I think you have everything to gain.

“We have enjoyed these games in the cup and hopefully we can get a good result at Villa Park.

“Having won three games in the competition we want to win another one and stay in it as long as we can. We know Villa may make changes to their team but they have a big squad.

“We expect a tough game but it is one we are looking forward to.”

New signing Ross Barkley is not available to Villa having already featured in the competition for Chelsea this season.

Former Villa skipper James Chester could feature for the visitors having made a permanent move to the Potteries in August.