Martin O’Neill declares Aston Villa are showing “Champions League form”

Oct 2 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

“If you’re saying to me after Wigan ‘would you accept winning four out of the next five games?’ Of course I would have. So it’s been a really decent start.

“They tell me if we’d won against Blackburn it would have been the best start in 79 years, so I don’t think too many would have been forecasting that after Wigan.”

Manchester City, who are three points off top spot with a game in hand, and Tottenham are putting pressure on the established Big Four while Villa remain in touch.

But, after last season’s Champions League collapse, O’Neill is focused on points and is refusing to pay too much attention to the league table standings just yet.

“Just at this minute it’s the points on the board that I look at, not the positions,” he said.

“Our position will eventually sort itself out, it really will do. It’s the points on the board.

“We’ve played the six games, three at home, three away and we’ve managed two victories away and two at home.

“We’re off the mark away from home which is always a difficult thing and now we’re coming into a really tough month ahead of us.

“But I think we’re playing with a great deal of confidence.”

City’s record of won five, lost one means neither side has drawn this season and O’Neill has noticed a bizarre Premier League pattern of just four draws from the first 64 games.

“It’s been a strange season in the sense that there’s been four draws from 60 or so games which is absolutely incredible,” he said.

“Last year was full of draws, more than you’d ever care to imagine.

“But the top 11 sides in the league at this minute haven’t drawn a game. We’ve played six, a lot of teams have played seven games, so it’s strange.”