O'Leary outlines plan of attack on Chelsea

The Midlands side warmed up for Saturday's trip to Stamford Bridge in astonishing fashion by coming back from 3-1 down at Wycombe to win 8-3 in the Carling Cup second round.

The League Two side were still ahead at the hour mark but were eventually sunk by a barrage of six goals in the final 26 minutes as Villa enjoyed their biggest win in more than 40 years on Tuesday night.

Jose Mourinho's side, however, have been beaten just once in the Premiership since he took over, but O'Leary is adamant there is only one way his team want to tackle it. He said: "We will go there and try to play the football that we believe in. We will take the game to Chelsea.

"I believe in an attacking style of play where we move the ball well and create chances. We might not win games at times, but I think people go away saying Aston Villa try to play good football."

Villa achieved that at the Causeway Stadium, where Steven Davis, James Milner and Gareth Barry helped themselves to two goals each. Milan Baros was also on the score-sheet and the Wycombe left-back, Clint Easton, put through his own goal.

But O'Leary conceded his players would certainly have to defend better at the weekend after the Wycombe trio of Nathan Tyson, Roger Johnson and Tommy Mooney scored with first-half headers. The rested Olof Mellberg and Wilfred Bouma, who missed out through injury, are set to return in central defence in place of Jlloyd Samuel and Liam Ridgewell.

Referring to criticism of a boring Premiership and overpriced tickets, O'Leary claimed his club buck that trend. He said: "It is no coincidence that in the last two years I have been at Villa crowds have been the highest for 20 years.

"Saturday's game with Spurs was a draw but it was a really good game of football. I knew it would be a good game at Wycombe, too. There were two teams who wanted to get it on and it was great for the crowd."

With the chairman, Doug Ellis, now in his eighties, the club is viewed as ripe for a takeover. A Russian consortium is thought to be interested and the club has confirmed an initial approach from an as yet unidentified party.

But O'Leary said: "I have been here for two years and there have been Colombians and Russians and quite a few different people supposed to be taking over."