Villa making Petrov progress

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill believes good progress is being made regarding Stiliyan Petrov's contract talks. The former Celtic's ace deal at Villa Park expires at the end of the 2009/10 season and O'Neill is keen for the Bulgarian to commit his long-term future to the club.Villa's offer to Petrov has been on the table since the first half of last month and O'Neill is refusing to press the panic button despite waiting anxiously for a reply from his representatives.Good progress"We have said all along that we want Stiliyan to stay and we are making really good progress," explained O'Neill."I have been delighted with him this season and he was determined to show people the real Stiliyan Petrov after a difficult start to his career at Villa."Villa ended their winless streak with success over Hull City on Monday night and O'Neill is looking to build upon the confidence-boosting victory.The three-point haul has maintained their two-point gap on Everton and O'Neill insists there are plenty of targets to aim for despite missing out on a top-four finish.In contention"We have put ourselves back into fifth position," he continued. "I have never given up the feeling that we could win games."We know how difficult it is to break into the top four. We flirted with it for a couple of weeks this season and for the experience we can be stronger next year."But there is still stuff to play for this season. We want to try and surpass the number of points we ended up with last season - 60 - and try and finish in a higher position than 12 months ago."

Source: SKY_Sports