"From what people have seen recently, you would not think there would be much of a threat left from our team to Arsenal's position," he reasons.

"We are in a lull - the players are down in terms of confidence. They can be a bit brittle from game to game, sometimes from minute to minute.

"But the players must take something from the last few games; they must see how they can turn things around. Liverpool are the example, and we must come out of this.

"Arsenal have won their last game - they are getting their (injured) players back. For us, they are the benchmark, the team we must catch."

O'Neill is happy that Villa are still close to the performance level which served them so well through most of the winter.