As we enter the twelfth month of the year, many Villa fans will be hoping for some cup cheer to brighten up the Christmas period.
Supporters of the Claret and Blue will be eager to see their side send Portsmouth out of the Carling Cup at the quarter-final stage and reach the semi's for the first time since the 2003/04 season.
Here at Villa-MAD we were eager to jump on the bandwagon and decided to issue this plea to Martin O'Neill and his men ahead of the game at Fratton Park tonight:
Dear Martin,
We would like to start by congratulating you on taking Villa to the Carling Cup quarter-finals and keeping alive our prospects of claiming some much needed silverware. Would you please issue a special thanks to Brad Guzan on our behalf, as without him we would not be where we are today.
Now, we know that you are a keen advocate of finishing in the Premier League top four and, while we understand your desire to 'take the club to the next level', we would dearly love to win something for the first time since 1996.
We have come close on a couple of occasions as you are well aware, but surely it is now time for us to emerge victorious from a knock-out competition.
We relished the victory in Malaga during the summer and that triumph has lit the blue touch paper so to speak.
Could you, perhaps, have a little word with Ashley (Young) ahead of the game at Fratton Park and tell him to start believing in himself? Maybe you could call him 'a genius' and 'world class' a bit more in training just like you did after the game at Everton last season. It would surely get his confidence flowing and get him back to his best. We need him!
Finally, Portsmouth must not be taken for granted.
We know you had great cup pedigree during spells at Leicester City and Celtic so you clearly know how to claim silverware. But, your record at Villa hasn't been the best in regards of underestimating lesser opponents and we would urge you to take this quarter final just as seriously as you took the Hoops' Uefa Cup final against Porto in 2003.
A win would mean a lot to us.
Yours expectantly,
Aston Villa MAD