Aston Villa will be roared on by a tremendous travelling army of 6,000 fans when they return to Stamford Bridge for next week's Carling Cup rematch with Chelsea.

It is just a month since Villa shocked Jose Mourinho's multi-millionaire outfit by holding them to a 1-1 draw in the Premiership. And Martin O'Neill's side will head south to the capital again next Wednesday evening knowing that, in a fourth round tie to be settled on the night, this time they need to go one better.

But, thanks to the generosity of chairman Randy Lerner, who offered to stump up the coach fare for any away fans travelling to the game, Villa can at least now feel confident of noisy support in West London.

Villa's maximum allocation of 6,000 tickets at the 42,000 capacity stadium sold out in little more than 48 hours, of which 4,500 have taken up the chairman's 'free travel' offer. And that means a cavalcade of 80 coaches will be heading down the M6 from Villa Park before being unloaded at Earl's Court, a short walk from Stamford Bridge.

For a club who have regularly been pilloried in the past for their uncaring, condescending attitude to supporters, the take-up of this offer is the most visible demonstration so far of the good times that seem ahead in the Lerner era at Villa Park.

"The response has been overwhelming," said Villa's Head of Consumer Sales, Nicola Keye. "There'll be a tremendous following down in London to support the team.

"The queue outside the Villa ticket office has been literally non-stop. Some supporters were even queuing from as early as two o'clock in the morning just to make sure they'd got their tickets and that they'd be there for the game.

"It's one of the most successful ticket initiatives the club have staged in recent years and the 'feel good' factor has been amazing."

O'Neill, twice a winner of the League Cup before both as player and manager, will be as keyed-up as anyone for next Wednesday night's big game. But, in the short term, he is more concerned with Sunday's visit of Blackburn Rovers — and how best to handle a reunion with one of O'Neill's old Leicester City terriers Robbie Savage.

With that in mind, O'Neill is keen to see the return of Gavin McCann, sidelined for the last three games with a calf injury.

Just like Luke Moore up front, McCann has clearly been missed — and will be sorely needed for the sort of scrap that can be expected against Savage.

"I am hoping he gets close," said O'Neill. "And we need him out there. "McCann has become a very, very important and influential player for us.

"It didn't surprise me how much we missed him on Saturday, because I just feel he is so important to us. When he got injured at Scunthorpe, my immediate thought was 'I hope he's alright for the next league game'.

"If you're striving to try and improve the squad, then not to miss one individual as much as we've missed McCann is the point in question. Looking at the squad, there's nobody else who does what he does for the team."

As for who the Villa boss does bring in come January, despite being linked with a string of names like Shaun Maloney, Bobo Balde, Henrik Larsson, Kevin Davies and topped by Robbie Keane, until any contracts are signed, all any Villa fan can be sure of reading for the next two months is pure speculation. And all O'Neill will admit so far is that he would prefer to shop at home if he can.

"Wherever they may come from, I would prefer to stay British if I could," he said. "But don't hold me to that.

"I'd rather stay with a British mentality but it doesn't mean the top-quality foreign player cannot adjust.

"I've no doubts there are players who are capable of stepping up into the Premier League if you're able to take a chance on them.

"When I was at Leicester people overlooked Matt Elliott and Neil Lennon for ages so it's if people are willing to take that chance.

"Here at Villa, I need to be right all the time. But somewhere along the way there will be a player for us in the Coca-Cola League and it's worth us stirring it to try to find out."