Source: Team_Talk
O'Neill: Title joy not beyond Blues
But ahead of Saturday's clash between the two clubs, the Aston Villa manager insists the Blues have the quality of players in their squad to put together just that sort of run.[LNB]Guus Hiddink takes charge for the first time at Villa Park with Chelsea currently 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester United with 13 games to play - and two behind third-placed Villa.[LNB]O'Neill said: "I think Chelsea need to win against us to stay in the title race with Manchester United having won their games in hand, and opened up that five-point gap over Liverpool and another five points on top of that over Chelsea.[LNB]"With 13 games left, for Chelsea to stand any chance they will maybe need to win 11 games and be unbeaten in the 13 games.[LNB]"That would take some doing but, with that group of players who have been over the same course before, it is not beyond them to achieve that.[LNB]"Last season, with about this number of games left it looked as if they were out of the picture and then they had a very good run and only effectively lost the chance when they drew with Wigan who scored very late on.[LNB]"That was with only a couple of games left so they pulled it right around and then were within a width of a goalpost of winning the Champions League final."[LNB]O'Neill's side were beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in October - a performance he hailed as "top class" - and he is surprised at their dip in fortunes and change of manager.[LNB]He said: "I was surprised to see Scolari go, someone who has won the World Cup and has been lauded as a great manager - which I still believe he is.[LNB]"But, if Chelsea needed rejuvenating, then the calibre of a man like Guus Hiddink should generate that rejuvenation. I think it may be what Chelsea have been looking for.[LNB]"When they beat us, I said they could beat any team in Europe. They were brilliant. We didn't play well but they are the only team to have kept us out of a game for 90 minutes.[LNB]"You would have got long odds that day about how Chelsea's position would have changed from that time because they were really brilliant."[LNB]O'Neill also feels his own players have learnt from that experience.[LNB]He said: "I said at the time that us being well beaten in that game didn't mean we were going to give up and I actually think we have picked up since then.[LNB]"The players were disappointed in their own performance. We did go into that game with a lot of confidence, we did think that we could win the game and we were brushed aside.[LNB]"We are going into this game with a third of the season left to play with confidence from the run we are on now having been restored.[LNB]"We are on a very good run and have won a lot of games. There was one stage in the season where Chelsea won eight successive away games and that was fantastic.[LNB]"But at the moment we have won more away games than anyone."[LNB][LNB] Aston Villa v Chelsea. Click here to bet.[LNB]
