Thierry Henry, back with Arsenal while New York Red Bulls are in the offseason, scored the only goal against Leeds United in the third round of the FA Cup, knocking out the Championship side. The goal, which was clearly preordained by the football gods as legions of fans welcomed the Frenchman back to the Emirates, is significant to Aston Villa fans because, of course, that means our beloved boys will travel to London to face the Gunners in the fourth round.

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The excitement! The anticipation of the draw! The thankfulness that Blackburn Rovers cannot be our opponents! Oh my goodness, let's just get on with it and tell us who Aston Villa will face in the fourth round of the FA Cup...

Arsenal or Leeds. Away.

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Hey guys! Look here! Another competition! That's right, Aston Villa get to play more games, and we get to watch! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!* Well, at least we get to see a different club: Villa travel to Bristol Rovers to take on a club that just beat AFC Totton 6-1 on Sunday to progress. Watch Villa set up with ten men behind the ball to defeat this League Two side, and somehow crash out of the FA Cup in our first match.

But you know what? It's not Blackburn!!!!!!! That, in itself, is reason to celebrate. It's also not Birmingham City, or Manchester United, or Stoke or Fulham. Yay.

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Manchester City thoroughly stomped all over Notts County in their fourth round replay, winning 5-0 at Eastlands, despite the score being at 1-0 through the 58th minute. City showed no mercy against the League One side, fielding a near full-strength lineup (James Milner didn't even see the bench) and bringing on Carlos Tevez in the 60th.

Something tells me that Aston Villa won't be seeing a weak City side. Eight points behind Manchester United in the title race, the blue side of Manchester wants a trophy, and if they need to steamroll the opposition to get the FA Cup, they'll do it. And so the Villa will face Blackburn next week, City midweek and then Bolton. City host Fulham at home, Villa, and then Wigan. Ooh, scary.

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The draw for the 5th round of the FA Cup has been made, and Aston Villa will travel to face the winner of the replay between Manchester City and Notts County at the Eastlands. Notts County gave their flashier, wealthier neighbors just about all they could handle in earning a draw at Meadow Lane, but it's tough to see them doing the same as the away side.

No matter how well they played today, the possibility of the League One Magpies managing to pull off the upset seems remotes enough that it's probably fair to assume Villa will be playing Manchester City. If Notts County can pull off the upset this looks like a terrific draw for Villa, but in the far more likely scenario it's a poor bit of luck indeed. Of the sixteen teams remaining, six of them play below the Premier League with three playing in League One and one (Crawley Town) playing in Conference. Instead, Villa will be facing one of the three best teams remaining in the competition and who delivered a 4-0 thumping the last time they played host to the claret and blue. Obviously much has changed since then, but the fact remains; this is a pretty lousy draw.

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Gerard Houllier, oddly described as "spiky" by the Daily Mail (I would've gone with "prickly" myself), has made it known that the Aston Villa squad will see some rotation come the FA Cup tie with Blackburn Rovers. Silly me, I thought using Nathan Baker rather than Ciaran Clark and bringing Jean Makoun into the mix on Tuesday was squad rotation, but I'm guessing Houllier's about to throw on a starting XI he picks out of a hat and doesn't want the football gods coming after him slapping fines on his head.

(By the way, is anyone else annoyed that Blackpool got fined for fielding a weak team, and yet that weak team very nearly beat the Villa?)

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Aston Villa have drawn Blackburn Rovers in a cup competition for something like the nineteenth time running. Does anyone else feel like the Villa are stuck in their own special version of Groundhog Day? Rapid Vienna in Europa League. Blackburn in the Carling Cup. Now, Blackburn in the the FA Cup. Granted, we saw them off easily in the third round last season, a 3-1 victory, but I'm getting quite tired of seeing Rovers. Someone else, anyone else, please? There were at least fifteen possible options for a lower level draw, but no, the Villa face Blackburn. Yes, I'm cranky.

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Hello and welcome to "the tipping point". In case you haven't heard, Roy Hodgson and Liverpool have parted ways, with Kenny Dalglish taking care of the Reds until the end of the season. Will Gerard Houllier be next? Or will Aston Villa win their FA Cup tie with Sheffield United, thus giving the gaffer a bit of breathing room? Stick around and see, and add your comments below.

These lineups are written slightly oddly but a twitter discussion has lead me to believe that Barry Bannan is not the left winger (although he has played on the wing for Scotland, at least) but will have Robert Pires, Marc Albrighton and Ashley Young drifting around in front of Baz and Nigel Reo-Coker. Which makes sense until you see the OS official lineup, which lists Pires last. I guess if he's a forward, he won't have to defend. Let's just wait and see, shall we?

Friedel, Walker, Cuellar, Dunne, Clark; Albrighton, Pires, Reo-Coker, Bannan; Young; Agbonlahor

 Marshall, Petrov, Collins, Hogg, Herd, Delfouneso, Downing.