Let’s be honest here, the Carling Cup is only taken seriously by clubs who recognise that winning it is their best hope of qualifying for Europe. I don’t think we’d be getting too big for our boots to think we’re a little way above that point, although top six in this league is a massive challenge.

The conventional wisdom would probably suggest that MON’s approach to this game would be a bit different if he had the distraction of the Europa League. As it stands, he’s probably going to want to get some periphery players on the pitch at some point, but is unlikely to risk a full team of youngsters. Well, that’s my educated guess anyway.

Entering the competition in the 3rd round means we’re already one of only 32 teams left. There’s only two 3rd round fixtures not featuring a Premiership side, meaning, should we beat Cardiff, we would be one of up to 14 Premiership teams in the last 16 teams. The point being, should the other fixtures follow form, that the chances of drawing a non-Premiership team in the 4th round is extremely slim. Might as well take it reasonably seriously from the outset then.

We know that Cardiff will provide stiff opposition and their fans will certainly bring some noise – they’ve claimed their additional allocation of tickets and will be taking over the Upper North Stand. They’re currently sat in 6th place in the Championship, although they lost on Saturday at home to QPR – coincidentally the team that came to Villa Park in this same fixture last year and went away with a 1-0 victory. Hopefully this won’t be a case of history repeating itself.

It may well be a return to the Villa Park turf for Peter Enckelman who is currently Cardiff’s number 2 keeper, but played in their 1st & 2nd round victories over Dagenham & Redbridge and Bristol Rovers. If that’s the case, he’ll probably be petrified every time there’s a defensive throw-in!!

Another ex-Villan who we’re very likely to see in action is Peter Whittingham, who’s a pretty solid, if not overly exciting right winger. Peter was among the first players that MON allowed to leave when he was sold to Cardiff for £350,000 back in January 2007, so he may harbour some misplaced desire to show us what we’ve missed. I say ‘misplaced’ because with Milner, Albrighton and Ashley Young at the club he’s going to have to put a Messi-like performance in to cause anyone to second guess the decision to move him on.

The main threat will no doubt be coming from Cardiff yo-yo Michael Chopra. He didn’t do so well at Sunderland after his £5m move from Cardiff and ended up doing two stints back on loan before making the move back permanent this past summer. So far this time out, he’s bagged 7 goals from 8 games, although he’s failed to net in the last 4 outings.

As far as MON’s selection goes, I’m sure the first name we’ll all be looking for is Nigel Reo-Coker as his inclusion, or not, will be the first barometer of the pair’s clear-the-air talks this week. I’ve made no secret that I rate Reo-Coker, so I’m hoping to see him in the centre of the park with a point to prove in this game.

Assuming that no bridges have been burned, MON could do a lot worse than give Nige the armband and build the side around him. I’m sure we’ll see Delph get on the pitch again, but I’d really like to see him as part of central three with NRC and either Sidwell or Gardner as being paired with Petrov hasn’t worked too well so far. I’m not saying it can’t work, just that the duo haven’t inspired much confidence based on performances so far.

As long as he gets a solid central midfield out there to take control of the game, the rest of the side becomes less important. MON could easily rest one of the three centre backs and bring Beye back in at right back. Shorey could get his spot back without causing concern – well, he didn’t really deserve to be dropped anyway.

From looking so threadbare at the back not so long ago, we now have the situation that MON could select almost any available foursome and we’d look pretty solid. Behind the back line we should probably expect to see Guzan barking the orders and again, that’s unlikely to worry anybody.

I don’t know about you, but on the attacking front, I’d be surprised not to see Ash, Milner and Gabby starting plus, if MON goes with four in the middle, John Carew who looks like he’s still missing a bit of sharpness. The one player that we know is unlikely to feature is Emile Heskey who managed just 14 minutes on the pitch before injuring his ankle against Portsmouth at the weekend.

If it’s a matter of spreading the load a little bit, without changing things too much, Albrighton and Delfouneso would be prime candidates to be handed a chance to restate their credentials. With Harewood rumoured to be heading to Newcastle on loan and Heskey and Carew of an age where they’re always going to pick up the odd injury, Nathan will hopefully be looking to grab any chance he’s given with both hands.

Patience is an attribute that MON seems to have installed in his team, but in a cup game like this I’d prefer to see us go at them and try to kill the game off as early as possible. The longer it goes on, the flatter the home crowd will become and that will only encourage the visitors. A North Stand full of Welshmen will need no encouragement. QPR took advantage of a wasteful home team last year and a lack of urgency probably contributed to the Europa League exit, so hopefully we’ll be treated to Villa flying out the blocks with all cylinders firing.

Whether or not this competition will be Villa’s route back into Europe won’t be known until the end of the season and I’m sure every fan out there is hoping to qualify from league position, preferably in the top four positions. However, it’s been too many years since the fans have had a trip to Wembley and if this remains a competition that the other teams treat with disdain, then we ought to make it our business to take advantage.

That Peace Cup would look awesome with a three handled cup next to it in the trophy cabinet wouldn’t it?

EDIT | 22/09/09: Ashley Young is now rated as a “doubt” with a calf problem. Possibly Milner on the left and Albrighton on the right then?