Villa are mental powerhouses

Aston Villa have the mental strength to nail down a Champions League place this season. This is according to their manager Martin O’Neill who has led the Birmingham-based team to third in the EPL this season. They have won at Anfield and Old Trafford this season and have also beaten Chelsea at Villa Park. Expectation at the club is now very high. "We have shown we can compete and win against these teams but you have to do that more regularly. That applies to us, Spurs, Everton and Man City,” said O’Neill recently. "We had a great win at Old Trafford, expectation rises. If we lost at Sunderland, people would say we could not sustain it. We went again against Stoke and won the game. Last year we might not have been strong enough to do that. We have gained a wee bit of mental strength."