ASTON VILLA: O'Neill remains wary of Arsenal

Mar 14 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

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MARTIN O’Neill sends his Champions League hopefuls into action against Tottenham tomorrow – with one eye on the looming presence of their north London rivals Arsenal.

O’Neill insists Villa will be fully focused on getting back to winning ways by beating Harry Redknapp’s strugglers at Villa Park after two Premier League defeats and a draw.

But the claret and blue camp will also be awaiting with interest this afternoon’s result from the Emirates where Arsenal face Blackburn with the chance to leapfrog Villa into fourth.

Wary of the threat, O’Neill has swung the pendulum of pressure back in Arsene Wenger’s direction by insisting the Gunners have a stronger squad than Villa.

And the Villa boss believes Arsenal will be galvanised rather than jaded by progressing to the Champions League quarter-finals after extra time and penalties against Roma.

“I think Arsenal will be re-energised from that rather than anything else,” said O’Neill.

“With all their players coming back - Theo Walcott played, Cesc Fabregas is a week or two away, Tomas Rosicky is coming back – they will have the squad that they claim they have, which is pretty strong.

“Arsenal’s squad, without question, is a stronger squad. Without wanting to sound patronising, I think they deserve that because they have been there and thereabouts.

“But it’s in our hands. We have a lot of tough fixtures. We can’t look too far ahead as Sunday is so, so important for us to win.

“We could kick off in fifth on Sunday, Arsenal have a better goal difference than us.

“If you look at some of the fixtures we have in the immediate future they are exceptionally difficult, but we would still be hoping to be close enough to be in a striking position in the last six or seven games of the season.”

Emile Heskey is expected to be available to face Spurs despite missing a training session in Dubai with his problematic Achilles injury.