John Barnes dismisses Aston Villa's fourth place hopes
Mar 21 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail
JOHN Barnes, the former Liverpool and England winger, has written off Villa’s chances of pipping Arsenal for fourth.
Villa travel to Anfield tomorrow looking to end a 14-game run in the league without a win against Liverpool since Villa’s 3-1 win in Merseyside in September 2001, when Dion Dublin, Lee Hendrie and Darius Vassell were all on the scoresheet.
Barnes clearly believes the momentum is now with Arsenal in the race for the final Champions League spot.
And he has warned Villa that fifth place is by no means secure with Everton four points away and breathing down their necks.
“Villa have hit a bad patch of form and this has seen Arsenal climb above them in the league whilst Everton are also pushing them hard,” said Barnes.
“It’s hard to look further than the current top four to be honest but that doesn’t mean Villa have had a poor season, far from it.
“To be honest Villa have probably overachieved this season and if you’d told most Villa fans at the start of the season that they’d be separated from fourth place due to goal difference at this stage of the season, they would have bitten your hand off.”
Barnes says a lack of strength in depth has worked against Villa in the last month. “The performance of the side seems to have levelled off in recent weeks but that’s not to be unexpected,” he said.
