KEVIN Phillips has been ruled out of the Aston Villa side for tonight's match against Wycombe Wanderers.

The former former England striker, who opened his Villa account in a 2-0 win over Wanderers in a pre-season friendly, pulled up with a calf strain in the warm-up before Saturday's 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

The Villans are already likely to be without midfielder Gavin McCann, the star of that pre-season game. The ex-Sunderland man is recovering from keyhole knee surgery and defender Mark Delaney also looks likely to be sidelined.

But Villa boss David O'Leary plans to send as strong a squad as his injury list permits as he targets a long run in this cup.

Villa beat Wycombe 5-0 at the same stage of the competition two years ago and went on to reach the semi-final.

But the Villains boss knows that result will be no gauge to tonight's game after seeing Wanderers at close hand in the Steve Brown testimonial during this summer.

He said: "We're taking the Car-ling Cup seriously and I won't be changing much. We're taking this competition seriously and I'll treat Wycombe with respect."

O'Leary continued: "This can be a big competition for us and we want to do well. We won't be the only club saying so. There's a European spot at stake and we want a good cup run.

"You can come a cropper if you take lower league opposition lightly in the cup competitions and that's not something we intend to do.

"We'll send a strong side out against Wycombe and hopefully get ourselves into the hat for the next round."

Villa suffered early exits against Burnley and Sheffield United in both cups last season and O'Leary is determined to avoid a hat-trick.

He said: "I can promise you we will approach it in a determined mood. There is no danger of us just going through the motions.

"Having played Wycombe in a pre-season friendly, it's safe to say they will give us a tougher game then when we won there 5-0 at the same stage two years ago.

"This is a competition I want to win. After our win at Adams Park in 2003, we went on to reach the semi-final and this time we aim to go one better.

"With the players we brought in before the transfer window closed we are now getting towards a squad who are capable of achieving a decent league position and lifting a cup or two."

Tonight's tie must be settled on the night. There are no replays. If it is level after 90 minutes, extra time will be played and if it is still level the match will be decided on penalties.

John Gorman's Wycombe Wanderers have been drawn at home to Conference side Dagenham and Redbridge in the first round of the LDV Vans Trophy.

The match will be played in the week commencing October 17.