With supposed road-kill up 3-1 and visiting Villa Park for an away leg that none of us really thought should be filled with any doubt, a person has to ask what happened the first time round, and what should be happening tonight?

Yeah, sure, it’s cup football, and that means anything goes. For smaller teams, it’s a shot at the big leagues, a chance to prove you’re not as meaningless as the league structure would imply, and that you’re not scared of the so-called big boys.

Every match against teams further up the leagues is its own cup final. And Bradford have relished the challenge, putting Wigan and Arsenal out. Usually, that’s about where I’d say the luck and intensity revert to normal levels. A good run that should statistically be about over.

But, with Villa failing to cash in during the first leg, Bradford have every reason to fight to the death tonight for a moment of glory that very few in claret and blue can say they’ve seen the likes of either.

If, as one would normally assume, one side is simply better than the other, than it really comes down to the will to win, the relative pressure on each side, or lack thereof, and their mental make-ups if talent and “pedigree” are are to be dismissed. And given how much Villa have changed this season, there’s hardly any pedigree except that conferred by the history books and a big and famous ground.

Bradford have nothing to lose. Villa have almost nothing to win.

Nothing to win? What about a cup final appearance at Wembley?

Yes, that is on offer. But really, if I’m a Villa player, I’m faced with a small dilemma.

Do I go out and give everything to try and secure an extra match against, in all likelihood, a team that dismantled us 8-0? Do I forget about what comes next and just focus on the pride of needing to advance against Bradford whatever that implies?

Or do I take the excuse of a 3-1 deficit and hide behind it to avoid what would seem almost certain humiliation in a cup final in the great national stadium?

It’s a funny bit of psychology. And I can’t honestly predict what I think this side will do.

Gabby, I know what he’ll do. Guzan and Vlaar, too. But the rest? Who knows, really.

What I’m looking at tonight isn’t so much whether we win or fall short, but whether we’re actually going all out to win.

Are we focused on the pride of winning this game and advancing regardless of what might await? Or are we content to hide behind a largish molehill?

I’d like to see a team that’s saying screw Chelsea, we’ll go play ’em again cause we want to get to a cup final; we should and ought to be beating Bradford no matter what; and we want to show everyone we’ve got some fight and a reason to stand behind us.

It’s a very interesting moment for this team. I’ll be more than curious to see what transpires.

I’m expecting as full-strength a team as possible, but given the various knocks and cup eligibilities, it will be interesting to see what full strength means tonight.

Over to you for lineups and predictions….

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