O'Neill still hopeful of fourth spot

With fourth-placed Tottenham winning at home to Blackburn, Villa's point at the Britannia leaves them six points adrift in seventh. However, the Midlanders do have two games in hand on Spurs and O'Neill has not given up hope of snatching fourth spot ahead of the north Londoners, Manchester City and Liverpool. "I'm hoping we don't have that many free weeks between now and the end of the season," said O'Neill. "If we get a second wind we can still go for it. We haven't lost a Premier League game since Liverpool four days after Christmas and we are just going to have to try to turn a couple of draws into wins." Villa's defensive strength at least gives them a platform to go and attack in the last two months of the season. They have conceded just 21 goals in 27 Premier League matches and despite having to contend with a barrage of Rory Delap long throws at the Britannia Stadium, the back four were assured. "I thought we defended brilliantly," added O'Neill. "We showed a lot of bravery, players prepared to put their bodies on the line, and I think that was epitomised on three or four occasions. "Overall, I think when you have not conceded from one of them (Delap's throws) you can say it has been a satisfactory afternoon from that viewpoint. "It is tough to keep concentrating all the time knowing that they are coming in but it is part of the game and concentration on those particular occasions was pretty strong. "I think everybody knows what to expect, but knowing what to expect and coping with it are two different things. This was a tough fixture for us. "We have a game on Tuesday (at Wigan) which we are going to try to win if we can, but we set out with the ambition to win at Stoke as well." Aside from Stiliyan Petrov's first-half shot from outside the area which Thomas Sorensen saved, and Stewart Downing's strike which deflected off team-mate John Carew into the side-netting just after the interval, Villa did not create much. O'Neill left Gabriel Agbonlahor on the bench after opting to continue with the pairing of Carew, who scored an FA Cup hat-trick against Reading the previous weekend, and Emile Heskey. However, the Villa boss believes Agbonlahor could have an important part to play in their run-in. "It was a combination of everything," said O'Neill as he explained why he chose not to start with the England Under-21 international. "Gaby has missed very few games since I've been at the club in the last three and a half years. I think outside injury and illness, yesterday might have been the second occasion. "But John Carew scored a hat-trick last week and Emile Heskey partnered him and they did very well. Gaby has done very little training with us but he is still a force to be reckoned with." Last season Villa fell away in the closing stages and O'Neill is not convinced his squad is any better prepared for the final stretch. "I'm not so sure. We have, as the record shows, been able to defend better than we did last year," he said. "Only time will tell really. We may even be a better footballing side than we were last season - certainly than a couple of seasons ago - but those are only pointers. "They don't amount to anything if you don't put the effort into the game." Aston Villa 6/5, Draw 9/4, Wigan 12/5