Villa boss hails 'terrific' Hodgson

The two managers lock horns at Craven Cottage on Saturday and Aston Villa boss O'Neill said: "They have improved a lot this time around. It's been terrific for them this season and the manager has done wonderfully well there."They are going for a European spot - and that's all you need to say really to see how far they have come."They were all but gone last season. You couldn't have envisaged that kind of comeback that they made. It was absolutely incredible."They will have taken great heart from that. They have made a couple of good signings too. They have done fantastically well. It just goes to show how quickly things can change in football."I think their record at Craven Cottage is terrific. They play neat and attractive football and they defend strongly and they are very well organised."O'Neill has concentrated primarily on signing young English talent since he took charge at Villa but insists he would not turn up the chance to sign top-quality foreign players.He said: "We are trying to improve the squad and in the last 14-16 months we have added a lot of young English players to the squad."That doesn't mean I have got a closed mind to things. In terms of value, you ask a lot of Premier League managers and they say prices between English clubs are very prohibitive."You sometimes think you can get a quality player from the continent who has all the skill in the world. You just might worry if he has the temperament to prosper in this league."But I am hoping that is becoming less of an issue because the very best have come to this country and have enhanced the Premier League."O'Neill wants Villa to finish the campaign on a high after ending a 12-game winless run with the single goal success over Hull on Monday evening.He said: "It was a long time since we had won even though the performances had been fine. We should have won by more against Hull but the victory itself was the essential thing."It is great with three games to know that you can't finish lower than sixth and that we have qualified for Europe again."There has been a general improvement this season and we have never been out of the top six." Fulham 13/8, Aston Villa 13/8, Draw 9/4  

Source: Team_Talk