Steve Sidwell keen to shine for Aston Villa

Sep 8 2008 By Nick Davis

STEVE Sidwell continues his comeback from injury tonight insisting the delayed start to his Premier League career at Villa Park has made him hungrier than ever to star for Martin O’Neill’s men.

The summer signing from Chelsea expects to play tonight as Villa reserves entertain Spurs and hopes to be on duty when the two clubs face each other in senior action next Monday at White Hart Lane.

Sidwell made just two competitive appearances in the InterToto Cup victory against Danish outfit Odense BK before tearing a calf muscle in pre-season training.

Now he is raring to go and said: “It’s been a frustrating way to start my Villa career but if anything it’s made me hungrier than ever to do well here.

“But we’ve got a long season ahead of us and the last thing I wanted to do was come back early and then break down. That would have been a silly thing to do.

“I’m a really bad watcher of games. Don’t get me wrong, I watch the games and I want the boys to play well. But I don’t like being up in the stands and it’s difficult.

“But watching the games has given me the chance to see just how good a side we are. We’ve made some great signings this summer and we have a lot more options now. What we’ve seen so far, for this stage of the season, is very good and very encouraging.”

Sidwell believes O’Neill has built a squad capable of building on last season’s sixth-place finish and competing in the UEFA Cup.

Now he just wants to play his part.

He added: “I was the first signing of the summer and the new players coming in since have given the dressing room a real buzz. We’re all very optimistic and I feel we’re good enough to be competing up there this season.

“The quality of the players we’ve signed doesn’t surprise me.

“When I sat down and spoke to the manager and heard the way he and the chairman wanted to take the club, there was only one way that could be done.

“That was dipping into the market and spending big.

“They’ve done that and now it’s just a matter of getting on with it.

“We knew we needed a bigger squad this season to do well at home and in Europe.

“The way things have panned out, we can reach heights that this club has done before.”