Source: Telegraph
Aston Villa thrashing by Chelsea will have no bearing on FA Cup semi, says Stiliyan Petrov
It has been a surreal week, but their captain Stiliyan Petrov shrugged it off and insisted that Aston Villa's 7-1 destruction at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, their biggest ever Premier League defeat, will have no bearing on their FA Cup semi-final. [LNB]Although they have an opportunity to regain some momentum against Bolton this weekend, it would be understandable if some psychological scars remain when they play Chelsea at Wembley a week on Saturday, but Petrov has insisted that they will not be the same side that capitulated at the weekend. [LNB] Related ArticlesVilla deny Martin O'Neill quit rumours'Milner will go to World Cup'Chelsea 7 Aston Villa 1Villa 'can still reach Champions League'O'Neill: I will not risk playersO'Neill struggling to meet Villa fans' expectations'I don't think it will have a bearing on the semi-final because it will be a different game,' Petrov said. [LNB]'There were a few decisions that could have gone our way that went against us, but that's the way football goes. At the moment it's not going for us, but I think we will be a different side in the semi-final.' [LNB]That Petrov seems to think it has not been going 'their way' of late is an odd one, not least because until Saturday they were undefeated in 2010, and boasting the joint best defensive record in the League. [LNB]True, draws against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sunderland were far from ideal, but there was never a suggestion that luck was going against them. Petrov agrees that the Stamford Bridge performance was a bolt from the Chelsea blue. [LNB]'That's the strange thing because we've been so good defensively all season and the boys have been magnificent,' he said. [LNB]'But you have games like that so you have to accept it. We know what we did wrong and we'll have to try to put it right as quickly as possible. It is hurting. We all hurt, especially me. When it went to 3-1 we lost heart and we couldn't keep going, which is not our way of playing.' [LNB]The rebuilding process has begun this week, the squad returning to training after a scheduled day's rest. [LNB]The first priority is to start winning matches again - although Chelsea was their first defeat, Villa have only won three league matches since the turn of the year. [LNB]'We're trying to get back on track again,' Petrov said. 'We're having a bad time. We hadn't lost a league game before that this year but we haven't picked up the results. [LNB]"We hope we'll turn that around and that other teams will go through our situation. We'll battle until the end and we'll see what we've done right and what we've done wrong and where we're going to finish.' [LNB]
