Source: SKY_Sports
O'Neill hails a 'great effort'
Martin O'Neill praised a 'great effort' from his team as Aston Villa secured a 2-1 home win over Premier League leaders Chelsea.
Didier Drogba had given Chelsea an early lead at Villa Park only for Richard Dunne to equalise before central defensive partner James Collins headed the winner on 52 minutes.
The victory follows up a success over Liverpool earlier in the season and O'Neill is happy to see his side being capable of matching the 'big four' clubs.
"I don't know about beating the big four, but we can definitely compete with them," O'Neill told Sky Sports.
"We've got a lot of good players in the team and a lot of good players in the squad, and it was a great effort against a top-quality team, and it's my own view that Chelsea will win the Premier League."
Both Villa's goals were provided by Ashley Young corners, but O'Neill insists there is more to his team than just being dangerous from set-pieces.
He added: "We're a very, very good team and set-pieces are part of the game today. World Cup finals have been settled on set-pieces and it is part of the game.
"However, that can overlook what we do. We have quality players who can play, who try and get it wide, and who like to wow the crowd.
"Ashley Young, Agbonlahor and James Milner, we have people like this who can all play this game and play it brilliantly. Today they showed that.
"There's also another part of the game, the one where, when we lost the ball, we made every single attempt to try and get it back. We had to defend very, very strongly in the second half."
O'Neill also felt Villa should have been awarded a penalty before Chelsea had taken the lead when Agbonlahor appeared to be dragged to the ground by Jose Bosingwa.
"I think when he (the referee) sees it back, he'll look at it and admit he got it wrong," continued O'Neill.
"It's a penalty and the consequence - I'm not saying we would have scored the penalty - would be their player had to be sent off."
