Chelsea

On the importance of the League Cup, Mauricio Pochettino said: "It’s an important competition and for us, it was one of our objectives and it still is.

"It’s going to be an important game tomorrow and we have to face a very good team. Of course I want to win a trophy here in England, and win one with Chelsea if we have the opportunity. My wish and desire is to win and it’s possible.

"We need to respect our opponents, Newcastle are going to be tough, we need to deserve to go through."

Chelsea

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Right then, back to Mauricio Pochettino. The Chelsea manager started his news conference with an update on club captain Reece James and whether he will need surgery on his hamstring: "At the moment we don't know. We will see in the next few days and we will know then the possibilities."

On Christopher Nkunku's fitness: "Christoph was involved in the last game and will be involved tomorrow. Today he was training well. Maybe he will have the possibility to be involved in some minutes."

Simon Gleave
Head of sports analysis, Nielsen Gracenote

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Aston Villa are favourites to win the Conference League according to our Euro Club Index, external. Villa are ranked 21st in Europe and the highest ranked team they could draw in the last-16 is Real Betis (29th).

However, the Spanish team have to first negotiate the knockout play-off round tie against Dinamo Zagreb after being surprised by Rangers in the Europa League last week.

There are only three possible last-16 opponents for Villa amongst the top 64 teams in Europe according to our index - Real Betis (29th), Eintracht Frankfurt (44th) and Union Saint-Gilloise (49th).

Both Real Betis and Union have to progress from the knockout play-off round first.

So here is the draw for the knockout play-off, which teams will Aston Villa be looking to avoid in the last 16?:

• Sturm Graz v Slovan Bratislava
• Servette v Ludogorets
• Union Saint-Gilloise v Eintracht Frankfurt
• Real Betis v Dinamo Zagreb
• Olympiakos v Ferencvaros
• Ajax v Bodo/Glimt
• Molde v Legia Warsaw
• Maccabi Haifa v Gent

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While we wait for Mauricio Pochettino, let's dip back into the Europa Conference League draw.

The eight runners-up from the Europa Conference League group stages will be seeded and drawn against teams who finished third in the Europa League group stages, who are all unseeded. Teams cannot draw a club who are from the same country.

Like the Europa League, the eight group winners advance straight to the last 16 where they will be seeded against the eight knockout play-off round winners. Again, teams cannot draw a club who are from the same country.

The first legs of the play-offs will be played on 15 February 2024, with the second legs on 22 February.

The draw for the last 16 will be held on 23 February, with the first legs played on 7 March and the second legs taking place on 14 March.

Group winners and into the last 16: Aston Villa, Club Bruges, Fenerbahce, Fiorentina, Lille, Maccabi Tel Aviv, PAOK, Viktoria Plzen.

Seeded in play-offs: Bodo/Glimt, Dinamo Zagreb, Eintracht Frankfurt, Ferencvaros, Gent, Legia Warsaw, Ludogorets, Slovan Bratislava.

Unseeded in play-offs: Ajax, Maccabi Haifa, Molde, Olympiacos, Real Betis, Servette, Sturm Graz, Union Saint-Gilloise.

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Cole Palmer could well be on the agenda for Mauricio Pochettino in his Carabao Cup quarter-final news conference.

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy believes Palmer's "total belief in himself" has been key to the fine start he has made to his Chelsea career.

Palmer scored one and assisted the other in Saturday's 2-0 win over Sheffield United to make it 13 goal involvements in 19 appearances since his summer move from Manchester City.

Murphy added: "I'll go as far as to say it, he's their best player now, bar none. He's their best player, their best talent and the most productive player."

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Aston Villa will have one eye on the draw for the Europa Conference League knockout play-offs. That is happening in Nyon, Switzerland now.

Villa have made it directly into the last 16 after winning their group, skipping the play-off round, so will not be in action again until March.

We will bring you the result of that draw shortly, but first, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino is holding a news conference before Tuesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final at home to Newcastle.

Let's hear what the Argentine has to say...

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If you'd told me Aston Villa could be top of the Premier League on Christmas Day after Newcastle thrashed them 5-1 on the opening day of the season, I probably would have laughed.

But if Villa beat Sheffield United on Friday - which you'd expect them to, with their superb record at Villa Park - and Liverpool draw with Arsenal on Saturday, then Unai Emery's side will be at the summit when everyone tucks into their turkey.

Emery deserves great credit for that, and he has done a remarkable job to get Villa where they are in the table. The question now is how long can they stay there?

They will also have the chance to bring in some reinforcements when the January transfer window opens, and it is going to be interesting to see what happens then.

Right now, they are doing everything right and, as well winning themselves, they had a great weekend with two of the other teams in the top four, Liverpool and Manchester City both dropping points.

Read Shearer's full column here.

It might not have been pretty to watch at Brentford, but the outcome for Villa was a 12th win of the Premier League season that kept them third in the table, three points behind leaders Arsenal.

Unai Emery's side, along with top scorer Ollie Watkins, came under the spotlight in Alan Shearer's latest column for the BBC Sport website...

Brentford boss Thomas Frank says he "didn't like" some of the behaviour by both sides after an ill-tempered match ended in a 2-1 victory for Aston Villa.

Meanwhile, Villa boss Unai Emery says that both sides were guilty of "not good behaviour".

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Ollie Watkins' celebration sparked a scuffle as he stood in the goal and pointed in the direction of a supporter he accused of overstepping the mark.

"There was one individual who had been giving me abuse all game, from the first corner. He'd been on to me all game saying personal stuff," said Watkins.

"I wasn't racially abused, but he was saying a lot of stuff. If it happens once it's fine, but two, three, four times, he kept going on to me, I thought 'I'm going to get him back'.

"It was aimed at him, not anyone else at the stadium, I have a lot of respect for the club, the people here, the owner, the manager... that's what I said to him after, when I was walking off."

A statement from Aston Villa said: "Aston Villa FC wants to express its support for Ollie Watkins and with the utmost respect for the big majority of Brentford fans and for the club, we ask the authorities to investigate this incident to find this individual. Zero tolerance to abuse in football."

Read more here.

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Both Brentford and Aston Villa could face disciplinary action from the Football Association for failing to control their players following a few unpleasant incidents during the closing stages of the match.

Brentford and Aston Villa each had a player sent off, six players were booked for Brentford, four for Villa, and both managers were cautioned.

Villa striker Watkins, who spent three years at Brentford between 2017 and 2020, then scored and celebrated by standing inside the goal and pointing at a supporter.

In response, Brentford's Saman Ghoddos shoved Watkins, which caused the first of the scuffles with players from both sides getting involved.

After that came farcical scenes between Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Brentford forward Neal Maupay.

Villa's Bailey nearly scored an own goal with a misjudged backpass from the halfway line, with the ball hitting the side netting. Maupay, looking to get the ball for the corner, then ran into Martinez, who made a lot of what appeared to be minimal contact.

The pair were then involved in another incident, with this time Maupay over-reacting to little contact from the goalkeeper.

Martinez tried to forcefully lift Maupay off the ground and that sparked pushing from both sides' players with Kamara shoving the face of substitute Yarmoliuk and getting a red card.

Emery, who appeared to move Martinez away from the incident, was then cautioned in a fiery end to the encounter.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport

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Aston Villa came from behind to dramatically beat Brentford after a red card for Bees defender Ben Mee changed the match.

Keane Lewis-Potter opened the scoring for the hosts at the end of the first half, shooting through a crowded penalty area after Villa failed to clear a corner from the left.

But the game turned when Mee was sent off in the 71st minute for diving in and catching Leon Bailey on the ankle.

On-pitch referee David Coote, close to where it happened, originally handed Mee a yellow card but, following a check by video assistant referee Craig Pawson, was advised to check the incident and it was then upgraded to a red card.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank was furious with the decision and got booked, with Villa capitalising on their player advantage six minutes later.

Bailey's cross was headed in at the back post by Alex Moreno for an equaliser, before Watkins headed in an 85th-minute winner from Boubacar Kamara's flick-on.

In a bad-tempered match, Kamara was then sent off for pushing the face of Yehor Yarmoliuk in stoppage time, with Villa boss Unai Emery also cautioned.

A year on from his starring role in the World Cup final, Emiliano Martinez was earning some slightly different headlines on Sunday.

Match of the Day 2 pundits could see the funny side of his spat with Brentford's Neal Maupay that sparked a melee at the end of their Premier League match at the Community Stadium.

Watch Premier League highlights and analysis on Match of the Day 2 on BBC iPlayer

Available to UK users only.

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It's a year to the day since Lionel Messi finally achieved his World Cup dream, as Argentina beat France on penalties to win the competition for the third time following one of the greatest finals in the tournament's history.

Argentina prevailed 4-2 in the shootout after a spectacular game which showcased the 35-year-old maestro Messi and his France opposite number Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe scored a hat-trick - the first in a Fifa World Cup final since 1966 - but it wasn't enough to seal a victory.

Messi had initially given Argentina the lead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute following Ousmane Dembele's foul on Angel di Maria. It made him the first player in World Cup history to score in the group stage, last 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final of a single tournament.

Di Maria then added a second 13 minutes later, before Mbappe scored two to take the game to extra-time.

Messi bundled Argentina back in front, but France's own superstar completed his treble from the spot two minutes from the end.

And so it went to penalties, with the two greats opening the scoring. But Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saved from Kingsley Coman, before Aurelian Tchouameni missed, leaving Gonzalo Montiel to win the World Cup.

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Rangers may be the lowest ranked side left in the Europa League, but they are starting to shine under manager Philippe Clement.

The Belgian is now unbeaten in his first 15 games and added his first piece of silverware on Sunday as Ranger beat Aberdeen to win the Scottish League Cup.

In fact, this has been a week of weeks for this club - an outstanding win in Seville to top their Europa League group on Thursday and a faltering Celtic blew open the league title race on Saturday with defeat at home to Hearts.

"Long overdue," said match-winning captain James Tavernier after scoring the only goal of the final against the Dons at Hampden Park.

"We saw it over the line. We want it to be the start of something special. We're getting better and better. We're going from strength to strength."

Simon Gleave
Head of sports analysis, Nielsen Gracenote

The weakest teams left in the Europa League are Sparta Prague, 68th on our Euro Club Index, external, Young Boys (74th), Toulouse (113th) and Qarabag (160th).

This quartet are the only teams of the 24 remaining in the competition which are lower ranked than Rangers.

Simon Gleave
Head of sports analysis, Nielsen Gracenote

All four British teams are seeded in the Europa League draw and thus go straight into the last 16.

Liverpool, fourth on the Euro Club Index, external, are the favourites to win the Europa League, Brighton are currently ranked 25th in Europe with West Ham United one place lower.

Rangers are the lowest ranked of the eight seeds for the last-16 draw (67th).

The strongest possible opposition for the British teams are AC Milan (17th) and Benfica (23rd) but both of them have to first negotiate the knockout play-off round.

Both face a play-off against French opposition - Milan have drawn Rennes and Benfica are against Toulouse.

Sporting Lisbon, Roma and Freiburg, who are all in the play-off round, are also ranked in Europe's top-32 teams by our Euro Club Index, external.

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• Feyenoord v Roma
• AC Milan v Rennes
• Lens v Freiburg
• Young Boys v Sporting Lisbon
• Benfica v Toulouse
• Braga v Qarabag
• Galatasaray v Sparta Prague
• Shakhtar Donetsk v Marseille

Image source, Getty Images

Each runner-up from the Europa League group stages will be seeded and drawn against teams who finished third in the Champions League group stages, who are all unseeded. Teams cannot draw a club who are from the same country.

The eight group winners advance straight to the last 16 where they will be seeded against the eight knockout play-off round winners. Again, teams cannot draw a club who are from the same country.

The first legs of the play-offs will be played on 15 February 2024, with the second legs on 22 February.

The draw for the last 16, when the four British clubs join, will be held on 23 February, with the first legs played on 7 March and the second legs taking place on 14 March.

Group winners and into the last 16: Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Brighton, Liverpool, Rangers, Villarreal, Slavia Prague, West Ham.

Seeded in play-offs: Freiburg, Marseille, Qarabag, Rennes, Roma, Sparta Prague, Sporting Lisbon, Toulouse.

Unseeded in play-offs: Benfica, Braga, Feyenoord, Galatasaray, Lens, Milan, Shakhtar Donetsk, Young Boys.