However, he also feels they will view the lesser domestic cup competition as a way of chalking up some tangible evidence sooner rather than later of the multi-million pound investment in the club paying off.

It will be a classic case of the prince versus the pauper at Villa Park, with O’Leary having only £4m (€5.7m) to spend last summer and a squad of such small proportions that a less than 100% fit Ronny Johnsen will have to play in place of the injured Dion Dublin.

O’Leary said: “Their ambition is the Premiership and the Champions League without a doubt, but I do think they want to win this competition and say ‘there you go, there’s one in the bag by March. There’s one in the back pocket’.

“I don’t think they are at the stage of dismissing this competition. If they could win this trophy, it would start to justify some of the money spent in putting the whole thing together at Chelsea.

“I am sure it will not be a case of them turning up at Villa Park with a poor side on Wednesday. I think they want to win the Carling Cup. I think they’d love to win it.”

O’Leary is not of the belief that victory will automatically give Villa a kick-start in trying to achieve their number-one priority of surviving in the Barclaycard Premiership.

He said: “If we win, then brilliant, but I don’t think it gives you an advantage when you go back into the battle for league points.

“If we get into the semi-final, brilliant, but it doesn’t safeguard you for the other battles – and surviving in the Premiership is the be all and end all.”

Villa striker Juan Pablo Angel will be looking to make amends for a hat-trick of glaring misses in the league encounter this season at Stamford Bridge which Chelsea were fortunate to win 1-0.

He said: “We did well down at Stamford Bridge, but still lost. We know we have to get everything right on Wednesday because there is no second chance.

“Chelsea are playing well and whatever side they field will be full of quality, but we want to get into the semi-final and win the cup and get into Europe. It is an opportunity to do that by winning just six or seven games.”

Defender Mark Delaney is hoping that Villa avoid a Chelsea backlash after their shock 2-1 home defeat by Bolton on Saturday.

He said: “The worst thing that could have happened from our point of view was for them to lose at the weekend and they will be looking to put that right.”

Defender Johnsen will play despite missing the last three games with a pelvic problem after Dublin suffered a knee injury in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Wolves.

Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen has recovered from the accidental kick in the chest by Wolves captain Paul Ince which forced him to be substituted in that game.