The City Under-21s sealed our place in the last eight with a fine 3-1 Round of 16 victory at home to Arsenal on Saturday evening.
Villa meanwhile overcame Southampton 5-4 on a penalty shoot-out after the sides had drawn 3-3 over 90 minutes and extra time.
For City it will be a quickfire return to the West Midlands with the Blues youngers having stormed to a comprehensive 4-0 win at Villa in a league phase fixture last month.
But with a place in the semi-finals at stake this time round, Gray says City are braced for a tough assignment.
“We’ve played Aston Villa away already this season and had a great result,” Gray recalled.
“We played great there first time round so we kind of have an idea of how they play and what it’s going to be like.
“But these play-off games are totally different. Obviously, no matter the game, you always want to win.
“But these games have more pressure because, you know if you slip up in the slightest, your season is done and none of us want that.
“It means they are must-wins every single game.
“We won the competition last year and we want to do the same again this time.
“It’s not going to be as easy as the last game that we had against Villa.
“We know that and we’ve just got to keep pushing.
From a personal perspective, Gray said he was delighted to be back in action after being sidelined through injury for more than two months.
And he is hoping that he and his colleagues can extend the season for at least another three weeks.
“I tore a couple of ligaments in my ankle in training so that kept me out a couple of months,” Gray added.
“My first game back was our last league phase game against Norwich.
“It’s great to be back and straight back in the team and helping the team win.
“I’ve just got to take one step at a time, one game at a time and try to win each game and hopefully there’ll be three more before the end of the season.”
