We are under way at a noisy Villa Park.

Each of the last six teams to draw the first leg of the League Cup semi-final at home have been eliminated in the second leg.

Alan Hutton
Former Aston Villa defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Confidence and momentum is massive in football.

Aston Villa have some massive games coming up, with Bournemouth first at the weekend.

If they win this today, spirits will be high and it could really change their season.

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith - a lifelong Villa fan - hopes home advantage helps tonight.

"It’s really important," he said. "I’ve been a spectator at a number of semi-final games at Villa Park and the atmosphere can be vibrant.

"It can certainly help our players and draw the ball towards the goal, especially from the Holte End."

Dave: Praet is unlucky to miss out to a very tired looking and very out of form Tielemans. We know he has magic in there somewhere but it has been missing for a while.

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer at Villa Park

Not long to kick-off and still plenty of empty spaces around Villa Park - hopefully they will be filled up as this is a Carabao Cup semi-final with real potential and beautifully poised.

A quick blast of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" has got some of them going.

Alan Hutton
Former Aston Villa defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Wilfred Ndidi is an amazing player. When Leicester sold N'Golo Kante many thought he'd never be replaced.

Ndidi was missed and having him back could make a big difference for Leicester. He sits and protects, makes sure everything is alright and he'll be welcomed back with open arms.

He could be a massive player for them tonight.

Hibernian are playing Dundee United in the Scottish Cup. Follow it here.

Plenty of English Football League action tonight. The top two - West Brom and Leeds - are both in action.

Follow live text of the EFL here.

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers is hoping to win a major trophy in England for the first time.

He led Swansea to success in the 2011 Championship play-off before winning all seven Scottish trophies available with Celtic in less than than three years at the club.

"You’ve just got to stay calm, I think there’s a lot of emotion around these games," he said.

"You have to play with emotion, of course, but then you have to play with that calmness and not overthink it as well.

"It’s 1-1, there’s no away goals, so it’s very much in the balance. For us, we’re happy with where it’s at."

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith on debutant Mbwana Samatta to Sky Sports: "I hope he has a good debut.

"It's a big game for him to step into. This is an opportunity to get him in front of the Villa Park faithful.

"He's worked hard in training. He's found the intensity different to Genk. But he's looking forward to it. He's got a great attitude."

Aston Villa are aiming to reach Wembley for the third year in a row. They lost the 2018 Championship play-off final, but won last year's.

"The football club has won this competition five times previous," said manager Dean Smith.

"It's got a great history.

"To get to a major domestic cup final in my first full season would be magnificent. We know just how we were feeling last season with the play-off final, what a great place Wembley is to go and the feel-good factor it brings."

If Villa win, Smith wants to face Manchester City in the final. City beat Villa 6-1 in the league earlier this month.

"City aren't in there yet, United will have something to say about that," said Smith. "But I'd love to get to Wembley and play them for an opportunity to put things right knowing what went wrong at Villa Park."

Aston Villa are the joint third most successful team in League Cup history.

Only Liverpool and Manchester City have won more than Villa's five trophies. Villa have reached eight finals, losing the most recent one to Manchester United in 2010.

Leicester have reached five finals, winning three. They reached three of the four finals between 1997 and 2000, which was their most recent success.

The winners will go on to face Manchester City or Manchester United in the final. City lead 3-1 going into tomorrow's second leg at home.

The final is on Sunday, 1 March at Wembley.

Villa led through Frederic Guilbert's finish from Anwar El Ghazi's cross.

But Kelechi Iheanacho's equalised from Jamie Vardy's pass.

Ezri Konsa's header also struck the bar for Villa but Leicester applied most of the pressure.

Image source, Getty Images