Aston Villa travel to Ewood Park to take on Blackburn in the first leg of the first semi-final of the Carling Cup and Martin O'Neill has long been waiting for the opportunity for his team to fight for a domestic trophy in England.

O'Neill already mentioned after the victory against Portsmouth that this competition is high on his list of priorities to grab the victory and move into the final with a chance of victory against Manchester United or City.

Villa have had the luck of the draw having to face a lower team in Blackburn who are currently struggling in the league, and will want to have the motivation of staying in the division and finishing as high as possible as top priority.

Blackburn face Tottenham, Wigan and Sunderland before facing Villa in the FA Cup and then face them 3 days later in the League Cup, which will definitely show us that Villa will have their number for this game by the time it comes to the League Cup.

Villa on the other hand have a tough Christmas period with Arsenal and Liverpool to contend with, and will probably have to play a few players less in the FA Cup before it comes to this fixture as it is his best chance of gaining silverware as well as a backup entry to Europe.

Aston Villa to win the first leg, and for safety we taken it on the Asian Handicap to back ourselves incase of a draw.