After a scrappy and unconvincing win against Gillingham, Villa have ben drawn away to lower league opposition once again.  Out 4th round opponents will be either Cheltenham Town or Doncaster Rovers.  My concern here is that we really don’t play well against lower league teams and because of our league position they tend to come out playing their best.

The draw in full:-

Liverpool v Everton
Southampton or Manchester United v Tottenham
Hull or Newcastle v Millwall or Crewe
Sunderland v Blyth or Blackburn
Hartlepool v West Ham
Leyton Orient or Sheffield United v Charlton or Norwich
Cardiff v Arsenal
Portsmouth or Bristol City v Histon or Swansea
Chelsea or Southend v Ipswich
Cheltenham or Doncaster v Aston Villa
West Bromwich Albion or Peterborough v Queens Park
Rangers or Burnley
Torquay v Coventry
Kettering vs. Fulham
Watford vs. Leicester or Crystal Palace
Derby vs. Nottingham Forest
Birmingham or Wolverhampton vs. Middlesbrough

Obviously the standout tie is the Scouser derby clash. There could be one or two other all Premiership clashes too, which helps reduce the strength of the field nicely.

Surely MON has noticed that we’re struggling against opponents we’re expecting to deal with comfortably?? That really needs to be addressed. I don’t know how it gets fixed, but somehow it needs fixing or we won’t be seeing a cup trophy in our cabinet for a while yet.