Aston Villa Football Club News

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

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

O'Neill praises Villa defenders

18 Oct 2009 - 10:31:07

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Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill heaped praise on his defenders after James Collins and Richard Dunne scored the goals which saw off Chelsea at Villa Park.

Headers following corners from Dunne and Collins cancelled out Didier Drogba's opener for the visitors and sent the in-form Midlands club up to sixth place in the table on the back of a 2-1 win.

A mistake from veteran goalkeeper Brad Friedel had allowed Chelsea to sneak into an early lead.

"Our defenders are terrific players. Collins is very, very underrated. Dunne has been a really good player for a long, long time in this Premier League," said O'Neill.

"Brad came back brilliantly after his error. He didn't dwell on it. He didn't get an opportunity within two or three minutes to rectify it either so that would have been playing on his mind.

"He would have been angry with himself at half-time. And then he came out with two magnificent saves, maybe even three, certainly two. They were great saves.

"I thought that was an immense second half for him. He was brilliant. He pushed the mistake to one side and got on with what he is very, very good at."

Speaking about the overall performance, a delighted O'Neill added: "I thought we played brilliantly in the first half and obviously had to defend strongly in the second half.

"Chelsea came at us after the break but we saw it through in the end. They had a 15 minute period - it was tough for us. But my overall view is that we were splendid.

"Naturally I am absolutely thrilled. We have beaten in my own view - even though it is early on - one of the real title-challengers.

"I think anyone who finishes in front of Chelsea will win the Premier League."