As they go into the biggest match of their careers, Aston Villa youth-team coach Tony McAndrew has reminded his young guns that they have nothing to fear about the brand that is Chelsea in tonight's first leg of the FA Youth Cup semi-final.

McAndrew is full of respect for Villa's opponents tonight at Stamford Bridge; after all, he played for Chelsea himself for two seasons between 1982 and 1984. But he believes his youngsters should not be afraid of Chelsea's status as one of the Premier League's elite clubs or the massive investment that has been poured into their academy system.

McAndrew said: "Chelsea have a good academy system and they have spent a lot of money, particularly on this youth squad that they have put together.

"That is the way they do it and I know they recently bought two lads from Leeds United who cost them millions, so they are a decent side with decent players.

"Whether their players came through the system as 12 year-olds or whether they paid for them is immaterial, really. They will be decent players. We can't look at them and say 'he cost this, he cost that'.

"We think maybe the strength of the Chelsea brand name is just frightening some of the young lads a little bit but we have done a bit of work on that. We are not being disrespectful to Chelsea but equally we don't want to go down there in awe of them.

"I played for Chelsea 23 years ago and we stayed up in the old Third Division that season by one point, so they have not always been the big cheeses that they are now. Basically, what I am trying to say is that we don't want to be overawed by who we are playing."

The youngsters will sample life as true professionals tonight, having travelled down to London by team coach yesterday and stayed in a top hotel. McAndrew said: "We have been very fortunate in this campaign that Martin O'Neill who has been at every game watching us and supporting us has allowed the youngsters to do things a certain way.

"The first away trip we made in the tournament was to Colchester United, so we went down there the day before and trained in the morning. We have been able to do that at each and every round so far.

"We will be preparing in the same way as the first team would for a match and that will let the kids see how it is done properly and how to behave as professional footballers. It is a great part of their education."

McAndrew is not sure whether playing the first leg away from home, before bringing Chelsea back to Villa Park on Wednesday March 19, will help or not.

He said: "It is a two-legged game and we have a game plan but that could change after five minutes! We don't want to complicate things too much. We will play how we play and hopefully we will treat this semi-final like any other game. We just hope the lads don't freeze on the night and are nice and relaxed and able to perform.

"We have just played a couple of tough derby games against Coventry City and Birmingham City and I admit I was afraid the lads might be a bit too preoccupied with the Cup, but they beat Coventry 3-1 and Blues 3-0.

"That will help their confidence and we are absolutely delighted, because the players kept their focus on each game and we managed to keep them from thinking too far ahead.

"That can be a massive problem for young players, especially when you get to the semi-finals and everybody starts getting carried away with thoughts of winning it. But fair play to the kids, they have been responding well to what we have asked of them and they have done incredibly well.

"They have shown some real maturity. They are taking in everything they have been taught at this football club and we hope they now take this all the way to the final."

So far, Villa have beaten Crewe Alexandra 3-1, Colchester 1-0, Ipswich Town 5-0 and Carlisle United 2-0. n In the other semi-final tie, Manchester City took a 2-0 lead over Sunderland after last night's first leg at the Stadium of Light.