Two Villas within a week to see off. Great performance against Sevilla in Spain to qualify for the next stage in Europe but now back to basics. Aston Villa’s motto is ‘Prepared’, well I trust they are prepared for a good thrashing. The current claret bit of the colours started out as chocolate possibly connecting it with the nearby Cadbury factory. Boos or fruit and nut? I know which I’d prefer.

The club that started it all, the idea of the football league was spawned by the Villans. Homage paid by pinching Gareth Barry and James Milner from them but eventually we swapped out 3 of our cast-offs all in the current squad.

The greatest common denominator is Joe Mercer who practiced his management skills at Villa before finely honing them with City. That Cheshire Cat always made me smile.

Although at opposite ends of the table, panic spreading through their whole fabric can yield a strange outcome, I’m beginning to doubt that we’ll reach double figures.