Villa’s Sporting Star columnist Dave Woodhall believes a four point return is realistic from the next two games to close the gap on the top four.

First of all, I haven’t got and neither will I get any spares for Wembley. I’m getting one overpriced ticket for myself and that’s it. So will long-lost friends, cousins and former neighbours please stop asking.

And so the Villa go marching on. Saturday’s game with Brighton was what the FA Cup is all about. A crowd of almost 40,000, boosted by realistic pricing and a healthy away turnout who made a lot of noise and were a credit to their club. Seagulls supporters have been through a lot in recent years and deserved their day out.

As for the game, Villa played well enough to get through without too many difficulties but still had a couple of scares.  The visitors never expected to get anything from the afternoon except a share of the gate receipts, but their two goals will have sent them home with the thought that they weren’t far from a replay. I’ll be generous and say they could have got one, with a LOT more luck.

But it didn’t happen and although we’ve been drawn away in the next round, either of our potential opponents are beatable.

Before then we’re back to the humdrum routine of Premier League games. Although I’m not a betting man I’d wager my house on Arsenal’s team for Wednesday night being unrecognisable from the one that was knocked out of the FA Cup by Stoke last weekend. We’ve already seen how good they can be – at the Emirates they were awesome for half an hour.

But injuries are taking their toll and a Villa side on top form is a match for anyone.

Then on Saturday it’s the best trip of the season, down at Fulham. Craven Cottage might be a great place from an away supporter’s point of view but, for results, it’s not been too clever for Villa over the past few years.

But that was then and this is now. Four points from the two games will leave us looking good, three will be okay. Anything less and the gap between us and the top four will start to widen.