Aston Villa Football Club

• Nickname:The Villains
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Paul Lambert

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42584

Intertoto route suits Villa

15 Feb 2008 - 12:10:13

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Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has confirmed that his club have entered next season's Intertoto Cup.

Irishman O'Neill has guided Villa to sixth place in the Premier League this season and he hopes to qualify for Europe without the need to feature in the Intertoto Cup.

O'Neill told the club's official website: "It's just covering bases, but we've got a chance to qualify automatically for Europe and we're going to try and charge on if we can.

"We've got ourselves into a position where we've got a 12-game season and we'll be going into it all guns blazing. The boys have been magnificent during the first two thirds of the season.

"We are making good progress and I couldn't ask any more from the players. They have given me everything.

"We had a superb finish to last season, being unbeaten in the last nine games and it would be nice if something similar happened again.

"Entering the Intertoto is in no way a signal that we've given up hope of qualifying for Europe automatically. Nothing could be further from the truth."