Tommy Elphick: Aston Villa must revel in the EFL Cup pressure
In a season where promotion is by far and away the main aim, midweek cup ties could be seen as something of an unwelcome distraction.
Not for Tommy Elphick though. Villa's captain happily admits to 'living for matchdays' and tonight's first round League Cup tie at Luton Town, he believes, is another opportunity for Roberto Di Matteo's team to move forward after an opening day defeat at Sheffield
Wednesday.
More to the point, victory over the League Two Hatters would be Villa's first in any competition since February 6.
"The good thing about the situation we are in is we've got plenty of games," said Elphick.
"These games are coming thick and fast, whether we're winning or losing. There are always opportunities and I think the lads are going to revel off that."
Regardless, a first competitive outing at Kenilworth Road since 1992 promises to be an unfamiliar occasion all round for Villa. It is just the fifth time in their history they have appeared in the first round of the competition. The most recent occasion was in 1972.
"We have to get our head round that," says Elphick, for whom Luton manager, Nathan Jones, was once a team-mate at Brighton. "Obviously there's going to be pressure on us. Pressure is something we've got to embrace this season.
"Pressure is a privilege when you go to these so called lower league sides. When you play against them, even in the Championship we're going to seen as a scalp this year.
"We've got to embrace that pressure and impose ourselves and dominate games."
Elphick, a £3million summer signing from Bournemouth, echoes the words of manager Di Matteo when he speaks of 'changing the mindset' of a team which lost 27 league games last season.
Sunday might not have delivered three points but there were encouraging signs in Villa's performance which hinted at a greater steel and determination, no better illustrated than by the captain, who played the majority of the game with a bandage around his head after a clash of heads with Wednesday striker Steven Fletcher.
"I think we saw a big change mindset wise," says Elphick. "I think we saw a team working for each other. Confidence was still a bit low first half.
"You could see that. We were a bit deep. We fought backs against the wall and defended pretty well as a team. Once we settled into the game and got going I thought we were the better team in the second half.
"There were plenty of positives to take against a top Championship side and I firmly believe that after we get that first win we'll take off."
Teenage winger Andre Green is in line to start for Villa, while Jack Grealish is also likely to feature as Di Matteo shuffles the pack.
The cup tie would also appear the ideal opportunity to hand Jordan Amavi a first start in nine months, following his recovery from a serious knee injury.
