Gabby rues gruelling campaign

Aston Villa star Gabriel Agbonlahor has admitted their early-season exertions have been affecting them. Villa's campaign started way back in July in the Intertoto Cup and they dropped off the pace in recent weeks in the race to finish in the top four.Agbonlahor has made 42 appearances this season and the striker admits the busy schedule has taken a toll on his performances."It has been a long season," Agbonlahor told the Birmingham Mail."Starting right back in July, playing in countries in the heat, I'm happy with the number of games I have played, because it means I have been injury-free and getting a long run."It can get mentally tiring but we've got the right people at the training ground to make sure we get the right amount of time off to recover."HopefulDespite dropping down to fifth place behind Arsenal, Agbonlahor remains confident Villa can qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League."Maybe we didn't expect to get that many points ahead of Arsenal but when we were confident and flying we were picking up a lot of results," added Agbonlahor."Everton finished fourth and Spurs went very close a couple of years ago but it is a huge ask to crack the top four when you look at their squads."Arsenal have got a lot of players coming back and with the players they have it's going to be really tough."But we've done really well this season and we've still got a chance of making the top four."

Source: SKY_Sports