Aston Villa FC

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O'Neill backs keeper battle

17 Aug 2007 - 15:22:24

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Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has urged goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen to fight for his place following the arrival of loanee Scott Carson from Liverpool.

Sorensen is currently sidelined by a hamstring injury, while Stuart Taylor has a slight calf problem, meaning O'Neill is more than happy to have brought in the highly-rated Carson.

He told the Birmingham Mail: "Competition for places is something I would be encouraging here.

"No matter how players want to look at it, it is something that can only be good as it should avoid complacency and make the players better.

"It should make them feel they are in the side on merit and not past reputation. That should all be good news.

"From the experience of last season, you would have said that you need three keepers.

"I am in absolutely no hurry now to be offloading anyone. If I can have competition for places outfield, why can I not have competition for places in goal?"

England Under-21 international Carson is in line for a debut this weekend against Newcastle United if Taylor fails to shrug off his injury.