Aston Villa will face Bolton Wanderers at the University of Bolton Stadium in the second round of the Carabao Cup this year.
Since his appointment, Villa boss Steven Gerrard has emphasised the importance of both a top-half finish in the Premier League and putting together deep Cup runs to bring back success to the club.
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While the plan didn’t start well following our opening weekend defeat to Bournemouth, we’ll look to bounce back at home against Everton this Saturday and put our first points of the new season on the board.
As for the cup competitions that Gerrard has placed a high level of importance on, we’ll begin our Carabao Cup journey with a trip to Bolton, with the second round ties being played in the week commencing Monday August 22, as per the club’s official site.
A top-half finish in the league ultimately has to be our priority, as we must improve and show progress as we continue to talk about aiming for a European qualification spot in the coming years.
A cup run on top of that would be a bonus, and winning silverware would also be a key sign of progress as we look for confidence in what Gerrard is trying to build at Villa.
In turn, it’s vital that we get the balance right and judging from recent years, most if not all the Premier League clubs take the Carabao Cup seriously and put out a strong XI, thus raising the level of competition significantly.. Before that though, our primary focus must be on Bolton and coming through unscathed.
