STOKE owe Villa a big one tomorrow, and I’ll be there to hopefully see us settle a score.

I’m talking about the game at Villa Park in December when I felt we were robbed on two counts.

First there was Mama Sidibe’s headed goal being ruled out for no good reason – and then John Carew scoring the winner when he was leaning all over Abdoulaye Faye.

It was tough on the Stoke lads. I was there that day, and they deserved something for their performance.

I’ve got every sympathy with Tony Pulis at the moment because one look at our bench at Burnley on Wednesday shows just how much injuries and suspensions are beginning to bite.

Where once you had Tuncay, Danny Higginbotham and the like in reserve, on Wednesday there was untried youngsters such as Louis Moult and Matthew Lund, while Andrew Davies was also there – and he’s hardly played this season.

So we are suddenly looking a little frail in terms of experience and quality, which is why it’s a good job we’ve got those points in the bag.

For me, Portsmouth and Burnley are going down, so that leaves one more space to fill.

While we can’t afford to be complacent, I just can’t see us going down from a position of having 35 points with 10 games to go. The question now is how does Tony motivate his players?

Anyone seen coasting will be told in no uncertain terms that he’s out, particularly when the injured lads are available again. But the Stoke lads should have their own motivation anyway – pride.

They should want to finish as high as possible to prove to the world they and their club are no one-season wonders, but genuine Premier League performers.

I’m taking a couple of my grand-kids to the game tomorrow and I’m expecting an exciting one with plenty to play for.

Villa are gunning for that fourth place and qualification to the Champions’ League.

I think Man City are in the best position, although their confidence took a knock during their three games with Stoke recently.

Liverpool have the experience, but they’re going through another bad patch and I don’t like Steven Gerrard’s body language.

I’m not sure Villa have quite the depth of squad you need to be attacking on so many fronts like they are in league and cup, but they’ll pack a big enough punch tomorrow because I think just about everyone is fit.

It’s no coincidence that a British manager such as Martin O’Neill has filled his team with so many British players who play the British way.

They love nothing better than getting their wingers banging crosses into the box, yet Villa remain more of a counter-attacking team than a possession team, one that relies on their tremendous pace on the break.

I tried to take Gabriel Agbonlahor on loan to Wrexham during his younger days simply because of that lightning pace of his.

He missed out last week because of illness, but you’d expect him to return because that pace is such a big weapon, especially away from home.

Of course, Villa won’t have fond memories of their last visit to the Brit after Mama Sidibe headed that 94th-minute goal from Rory Delap’s throw to seal a thrilling 3-2 victory.

Villa brought everyone back for that throw and I think they just got in each other’s way, so it will be interesting to see how they deal with Rory’s missiles this time.

One thing’s for sure, the advertising boards won’t be quite so close to the touchline as they were at Burnley the other night.