Fratton Park, Tuesday 1945 GMT
PORTSMOUTH:
You could say it was inevitable that Avram Grant would not lead his Portsmouth side to victory over Manchester United on Saturday in his first game in charge.
The Israeli lost to the Red Devils in his debut game as Chelsea manager, and he did likewise in his last for the Blues in the 2008 Champions League Final.
But he has a second chance to announce his arrival at the club with a home tie against Aston Villa in the Carling Cup.
Winning silverware is way down on the agenda for Grant this season for maintaining the club's Premier League status could be viewed as a bigger achievement than were he to win the Champions League with Chelsea.
Grant, 54, says he loves Portsmouth, and he will need to draw on every last bit of that relationship if he is to get the club out of trouble. But, for the meantime, he can take his eye off the league table and focus on the Carling Cup clash with Villa.
Strategy: It might sound like a contradiction, but Pompey did not do too much wrong in their 4-1 defeat to United. They enjoyed the better chances of the first-half and should have been ahead were it not for the wastefulness of striker Aruna Dindane.
Grant made changes to former manager Paul Hart's last starting XI and it seemed to inspire more confidence among the players. Kevin-Prince Boateng and Jamie O'Hara provided the creativity in midfield while Frederic Piquionne and Dindane should offer the attacking threat.
Sadly, he will not be able to call upon O'Hara or Boateng as they are cup-tied, so he will need to juggle his starting XI around. Grant's main concern however, apart from his strikers not scoring enough goals, will be his defence. Hermann Hreidarsson has been a great servant to the club but his lack of pace is too often exposed, while Mark Wilson lacks experience.
Injury Update: O'Hara, Boateng, Mike Williamson and Tommy Smith are all cup-tied for this match. England goalkeeper David James remains on the sidelines with a calf injury so he will be replaced by Asmir Begovic. Midfielder Papa Bouba Diop is still missing because of his hamstring injury and Steve Finnan has a groin strain.
ASTON VILLA:
The League Cup will is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this season, a milestone that will only serve to intensify Martin O'Neill and his squad's desire to go all the way in the competition this season. Aston Villa were the winners of the inaugural competition and although they have collected numerous trophies since then, captain Stiliyan Petrov believes it is time for the club to finally claim some silverware under O'Neill.
Despite the presence of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in the last eight, Petrov feels Villa have shown they have what it takes to compete against members of the big four already this season and have no reason to fear for their chances in the semi-final, if they can keep Grant waiting for his first success at Fratton Park.
"That is what we would like this season. We would like to win a trophy and the Carling Cup is a good chance for us," said Petrov. "We have done well for three years and we have progressed. We can see how the club has improved under the manager. We finished sixth last season and we want to do better again. Winning a trophy would be a way to do that. That is why we all want to do well in the Carling Cup and the manager has always played a strong team."
O'Neill has an affinity with the competition that dates back to his days as a player under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest and he was also successful in winning the cup during his time as manager.
"I am not sure about the symmetry of us winning the first one and doing it again for the 50th anniversary, but we want to win the competition of course," said O'Neill. "We do not have European football this season so we want to go as strong as we can in the competition and we will be trying all we can to win the game."
Strategy: Brad Guzan was the hero in the previous round when Villa defeated Sunderland on penalties. The back-up goalkeeper to Brad Friedel saved four spot-kicks and he will be back on duty again at Fratton Park. The American international offers no weakness to encourage Portsmouth.
O'Neill wants to win the trophy and will not tinker with his outfield line-up too much. Although he could see this as the perfect opportunity to hand Stewart Downing his full debut, now that the midfielder is fully recovered from a broken metatarsal.
Injury Update: Central defender James Collins has missed the last three games because of a groin injury and is unlikely to have recovered to resume first team duties with Richard Dunne. Stephen Warnock was forced to pull out of the draw with Spurs on Saturday because of illness, but Villa are hopeful he will be fit. Nigel Reo-Coker (ankle), Curtis Davies (shoulder) and Wilfred Bouma (ankle) are all unavailable.
