Villa defender Carlos Cuellar has warned the team they will have to overcome new manager syndrome when they tackle Avram Grant’s Portsmouth in the Carling Cup.

The claret and blues travel to the south coast for the quarter-final for what will be the new Pompey manager second game in charge.

Grant was handed the hardest possible opener with Manchester United the visitors to Fratton Park on Saturday and the champions’ 4-1 win over the Premier League’s rock-bottom team came as no great surprise.

But Cuellar believes Villa cannot underestimate the impact the ex-Chelsea chief could have on tonight’s clash.

The Spaniard said: “We want to win in every game, whether it be the league, the FA Cup or the Carling Cup. It will be harder for us because normally when a team changes the coach everyone starts fresh – they have a new chance. They will be like new players and have a high motivation to play.

“I don’t think there is any more pressure on us. We have the same pressure as if we were going to play anyone else. We have to win and we will be doing our best to do that.”

After an indifferent first season at Villa, the player has began to show why Martin O’Neill paid Glasgow Rangers £7.8million for him last year.

Cuellar has impressed in his preferred central-defensive role, in the absence of the injured James Collins.