Aston Villa Vs Brighton And Hove Albion Preview

Gus Poyet has urged Brighton's players and fans to think about the magic of the FA Cup when they travel to Birmingham to face Aston Villa on Saturday. The Uruguayan believes the magic has disappeared from the cup due to the busy fixture lists and financial pressures of the modern game and wants everyone involved to appreciate what a great competition it is. Poyet told the club website: "We need to bring the magic back - we're losing it a bit. I think, because of the situation with money and playing too many games, everyone in England needs to bring it back, starting with us as managers and players being at our best level."

The cup has already seen some massive upsets so far this season continuing the competition's fine tradition for turning logic on its head. Despite Poyet's claims, so-called Big Four teams Manchester United and Liverpool have both fallen to lower league opposition and Martin O'Neill will be wary of the Seagulls due to their excellent away record this term of four wins from six games so far.

The odds FA Cup bookmakers are offering suggest Villa are strong favourites for the game and the former Chelsea and Tottenham midfielder, who won the cup with the Blues in 2000, knows that it will take something special for the Seagull's to get a result. He said: "We need to make it difficult, be lucky and take advantage if they are not at their best. "It's a game where we have to be absolutely spot-on, then we may have a chance if Villa have a bad day. We won't change from the way we normally play, we will try to be ourselves. "We have nothing to lose and we need go there and prove we are an organised team."

If you had a free bet FA Cup football would probably be a good place to use it, especially if you're good at spotting upsets. However, with Villa already guaranteed one Wembley final, backing Brighton here might be a waste of time.