Aston Villa Football Club News

• Nickname:The Villains
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Alex McLeish

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

Barry targeting top-four finish

31 Oct 2008 - 14:19:52

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Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry has backed his side to continue their fine start to the new campaign and challenge for a top-four finish in the Premier League this season.

The 27-year-old England international had looked likely to leave Villa Park in the summer, with Liverpool close to agreeing an £18million deal for his services.

However, Barry ended up staying in the Midlands and has helped his club rise to fourth place in the table ahead of the weekend action.

Barry told the Birmingham Mail: "The buzz is back around Villa. We're doing well and climbing back into the top four, so I'm enjoying it again.

"The Champions League would be more realistic this time round than last season when we were talking about it and, if we keep talking about it, then we'll find ourselves in line for a place.

"We'll fancy ourselves, but it's a massive step as the top four has been the top four for a while now.

"The pundits say Villa are the team to break through, but they still don't back us to do it.

"It's up to us prove a few of them wrong, but if we can keep doing what we did against Blackburn and winning when we don't play well, then it helps."