John Carew insists that Aston Villa won't be running on empty

Mar 18 2010 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Mail

JOHN Carew insists there is no danger of Villa’s ‘‘super-fit’’ squad running out of steam during the exciting final stretch of the season.

Villa find themselves in a prime position to finish an already terrific 2009/10 campaign with an FA Cup and Champions League qualification.

An outstanding start to 2010, dented only by the Carling Cup final defeat to Manchester United, sees Villa breathing down the necks of Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham in the race to crack the Premier League’s top four. And that’s not forgetting next month’s return to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.

This time last season, Villa were well into their end-of-season stumble, triggered by the UEFA Cup debacle in Moscow, and heading for a 5-0 thumping at Liverpool.

The memory of that disappointing collapse is still fresh and pessimistic Villa fans may still be fearing their side will once again fall short.

However, Holte End hero Carew is confident Martin O’Neill’s current crop are much tougher than the class of 2008/09 and are more than capable of maintaining their consistency.

“We have a bigger squad and there have been more players playing this year than before,” said Carew.

“The players are super-fit and are really enjoying it so we are not feeling sorry for ourselves.

“We’ve learned from last year when we didn’t manage to maintain the level for the whole season and I’m sure this year we’re going to be able to maintain the high level all the way until the end of the season and take the important points and be up there fighting for fourth place.

“We have learned from last year. Last year we might not have won at Wigan.

“The pressure is on us all the time but we still have a game in hand.