Martin O'Neill hails Aston Villa's away support

Jan 18 2008 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

VILLA will be backed by a sell-out 3,000 away following at Anfield - with Martin O'Neill describing the club's away support as the best in the country.

The sell-out comes despite the £36 ticket price and live television coverage at 8pm on a Monday evening.

"What can you say? In my view it's as good as any in the country, if not better,'' he said.

Villa had 5,000 fans at Wigan Athletic just after Christmas and O'Neill believes the sheer volume of support has lifted his players.

"The crowd we got at Wigan after a festive period was unbelievable," he said.

"It's not what they can do, it's what they have done. It's been fantastic.

"Sometimes maybe players go over to the end and show their appreciation and that's fine, but that doesn't really tell half the story about the appreciation.

"Some of the players remarked that going out at Wigan that day, with conditions pretty poor and the pitch very heavy, saw over 5,000 of our fans behind a goal.

"It's a massive lift and the players did remarkably."