HAVE a flutter on Villa for the Coca-Cola Cup if you have a few bob to spare. And if you're feeling really extravagant, double it up with the FA Cup.

Maybe it is a little hasty to reach conclusions on the strength of one performance, but Ron Atkinson's men have the look of a side with their sights fixed firmly on Wembley glory.

The manager quite rightly insists that a top three place is attainable as one route to Europe, but I suspect his players have a couple of short cuts in mind.

At Stamford Bridge on Saturday, three points were there for the taking against an eager but inexperienced Chelsea outfit.

Yet Villa adopted such a laid-back approach that they were ultimately content to settle for a single point when all three were ripe for plucking.

That's not to suggest they were happy with the outcome, but you got the impression that it most certainly wasn't the end of the world.

The sharp cutting edge of Villa's previous three visits to London for Coca-Cola ties at Arsenal and Tottenham, and a 2-2 Premiership draw at QPR was simply never in evidence.

Dean Saunders' 39th minute strike, his ninth of the campaign, should have provided the ideal platform for Villa's fourth consecutive away success.

But while Saunders' finish was incisive on that occasion, he was weak and wasteful on two others in the opening half, placing one shot straight at goalkeeper Dmitri Kharine and another tamely wide.

Saunders, to his credit, did not allow those misses to throw him out of his stride, and was still working tirelessly when the final whistle arrived.

But with Dalian Atkinson not enjoying one of his more scintillating games, Villa lacked the attacking sharpness which had yielded five goals in the last two fixtures.

Even so, it was infuriating that they should have to settle for a draw when they looked quite capable of stepping up a gear and making sure of victory on any given occasion.

Andy Townsend, subjected to foul and abusive language during what should have been a respectful minute's silence for Sir Matt Busby, provided the perfect answer with one of his most effective displays in a claret shirt.

On his own admission, the Irish international has not yet justified his £2.1 million transfer fee, and the Chelsea hate mob would have loved him to fail miserably on his return to Stamford Bridge.

But the sheer adversity of the situation drew a strength and purpose from Townsend to suggest he can be an invaluable asset.

With Kevin Richardson dictating, Ray Houghton constantly searching for openings and Tony Daley making some lightning runs including one which led to Saunders goal - Villa were always masters in midfield.

And the back four, in which Shaun Teale never put a foot wrong, offered Mark Bosnich such sound protection that the young goalkeeper was barely troubled all afternoon.

Unfortunately, one of his few tasks was to retrieve the ball from the net after it had fallen kindly to offer Mark Stein a 67th minute equaliser.

Chelsea might even have won, had Boonlch's legs not diverted a goalbound shot from David Hopkin but that would have been a grave miscarriage of Justice.

As it was, everyone went home reasonably happy, with Glenn Hoddle's improving team stretching their unbeaten sequence to seven matches and Villa celebrating the same number of undefeated games in the capital this season.

Manager Atkinson, quite rightly, would have preferred to see all three points in the bag, but there was no escaping the fact that merely drawing was no great catastrophe.