Aston Villa Football Club News

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

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

O'Neill hails Villa comeback

27 Dec 2008 - 11:20:59

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Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill claimed his side deserved 'all the credit in the world' after coming back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Arsenal on Boxing Day.

Gareth Barry's penalty and Zat Knight's stoppage-time equaliser secured a share of the spoils for the Midlands club and helped consolidate their place among the top four.

"It was a sensational game," he said.

"By the time Arsenal scored in the first half, it shouldn't have mattered because we should have had four or five goals by that point. We were really brilliant.

"We were winning tackles, we were pressing forward - it was just monumental. Then we had the stuffing knocked out of us and we have had to fight back.

"They had a little spell at the start of the second half where they scored their second goal and I suppose we were a little lucky to keep out a third. It would have been a long way back from that!

"We deserved a point and the team deserve all the credit in the world."

Meanwhile, O'Neill also revealed that captain Martin Laursen will be out of action for up to four weeks after missing the Arsenal game with a knee injury.

"We thought it might require surgery but we're feeling it might settle down and he could return more quickly than if he'd had the operation," he revealed.

"We're talking about three or four weeks."