David Artell is hoping that tonight’s Carabao Cup tie against Aston Villa will be another great occasion at the Alexandra Stadium. The Alex boss and his staff have been busy trying to plot the downfall of the Premier League side and he says that we can take a great example from what was achieved in the previous round against Championship side Middlesbrough.

The Railwaymen were excellent on the night at the Riverside Stadium and had led 2-0 going into the final 15 minutes of the game. Jonathan Woodgate’s 'Boro rallied to score two late goals and sent the tie into a penalty shoot-out – but the Alex players held their nerve to fire home all four of our spot-kicks to set up a 4-2 win and a second round tie against Dean Smith’s side.

Ahead of tonight’s second round tie at Gresty Road, the Alex boss told crewealex.net: “I hope it is another good night and one that the players, all the staff and the fans can all look forward to. To have a Premier League side visiting Crewe is fantastic and I hope it will be a good crowd and a good result for us.

“We have already beaten Burnley in a pre-season friendly. Of course, that is very different but they had some top players on show and of course we played really well at Middlesbrough and should have won the game in the 90 minutes.

“It is always exciting to be welcoming teams of the calibre of Aston Villa to our Stadium and I am sure it will be another great occasion for us.

The boss added: “We know it will be tough regardless of the team Dean (Smith) elects because he has 25 plus quality players but we are looking to win and progress in the competition. There would be no point turning up otherwise.”