Megson - Villa deserve credit

Gary Megson has heaped praise on opponents Aston Villa, as the two teams prepare to face-off this Saturday. Megson believes Villa should be given the credit they deserve for their assault on the top four this season, despite their threat petering out in recent weeks."To even get up there with a suggestion that they might finish in the top four is an achievement in itself, given the strength of Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal," said Megson.Bolton fans will look on in envy at their Midlands counterparts, as they once had aspirations of breaking into the UEFA Champions League places under Sam Allardyce.However, they have spent the last two seasons fighting relegation and Megson now believes there are three mini-leagues within the Premier League."The top four who qualify for the Champions League every year and then the likes of Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham have spent a lot of money and have got the resources to go and do it again."There is the third group who just want to stay in the Premier League."To be perfectly frank we don't look at the top four and I don't think anyone looks at us as being able to break into that."Megson believes Villa's new-found financial input can help to progress further, but he can only dream of such funds with the Trotters."I think Mr Lerner coming in has changed everything for Aston Villa and their financial resources."They've been able to spend but the money still needs to be spent in the right way and they've got some terrific players and a fantastic squad."All the teams that came up this year spent more money than us in the transfer market; they had to in order to give themselves an opportunity to survive. "We are in a position whereby we are looking to do the best with the resources that we've got, everybody is aware of that and everybody has to accept that."Megson thinks that the current nucleus of his squad can help them survive, but realises he must keep hold of them if Bolton are to have a better campaign next season."We've got some terrific players, we've got some players who I'm sure are the envy of other clubs but we've got to try and keep them and add to them - hopefully we can do that as a Premier League club in the summer."It makes life difficult but it's interesting. As you've seen with the games we've had in the past fortnight, including our 4-3 defeat at Chelsea, it shows what a great product the Premier League is."

Source: SKY_Sports