Martin O'Neill planning to keep expectations down at Aston Villa

Nov 29 2007 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

VILLA boss Martin O'Neill says he will have no problem in keeping expectations under wraps and will continue to keep people's feet on the ground at Aston Villa by insisting: "We've done nothing yet."

His team's meteoric rise to sixth in the Premier League has gone almost unnoticed outside the Second City.

And despite a barrage of goals in recent weeks it has been Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth and Sven-Goran Eriksson's Manchester City who have stolen most of the headlines as the best of the rest attempt to close the gap on the big four.

Last night's stunning 4-0 win at Blackburn may, however, start to turn heads towards Villa, but O'Neill does not believe there will be too much extra attention come their way.

"I don't see it as a problem keeping people's feet on the ground," he said. "We got off to a decent start last season, and I accept we've got a lot more resilience now and we're a better team.

"But knowing the size of our squad we need to keep the players fit and, touch wood, they have been a bit lucky in that department.

"We've got a long way to go between now and January."

O'Neill does not think people will suddenly start to sit up and notice Villa.

"I don't think so. We're going fine at the moment, but it's too early to be making any big calls," he said.

O'Neill said he is on the lookout for two or three additions to bolster his squad in the January window.

"We haven't got that many players," he said.