League Cup Preview: Aston Villa travel to Sunderland

Tomorrow is a big match, if we win we are in the quarter finals. Let me put it another way; we we are four matches away from a final, but it is only three teams as I'm pretty sure the semi-final is home and away.

Sunderland are no mugs though and it will be tough. Steve Bruce on the other hand .. actually, I'm not going down that road today, because despite the result at the weekend and my views at about 1.30 this morning I had one of the best emails I've ever received, it made me jump out of bed and jump up, so today, nothing can go wrong and it will be a great day.

So, to the match. Sunderland have a pretty good record at home this season. They've won four and lost one. They've scored as many as we have at home as we have home and away all season, which isn't very long, but it's something to take note, as I quite like Bent and Jones up front and I fancy they'll score a few this season.

But defensively, we are very solid. While Sunderland might have scored 13 goals at home we've only let in four away from Villa Park and we've got a back four that is now very solid.

What this match is going to come down to is who wants it more. There is a real chance of something from this this season and if O'Neill sends his best team out with all the fight and determination that we have become used to then we have enough to beat Sunderland. But Steve Bruce can get his lads up for this too and he has a knack of getting teams up for matches, much like our manager.

The big four are still in it and I have no doubt they are the four favourites for it also, but one won't be come Wednesday night as Liverpool play Arsenal and we've shown that we can beat Chelsea this season and Manchester United, while even their second string side are extremely strong, they're not going to take this competition as seriously as the FA Cup, the Champions League and the League.

I don't care how any of them line up, but it would be nice if more than one lost this week - especially if we won.

It really does, for me anyway, come down to taking the chances and determination. Martin O'Neill can get them all fighting and up for this but I'm afraid it is very much down to the players having the confidence to take their chances with a little confidence when they are presented.

So, I'm going to predict a win. This is very much our best chance of silverware this season and it is something that we have missed and I just fancy we might have a good little run in this competition. We need a good run in this competition.