Ashley Young: Aston Villa are natural born winners
Ashley Young is backing Aston Villa to put their recent mini-slump behind them as they resume their bid for a Champions League spot.
And the in-form England winger insists the entire Villa squad has a "winning mentality" ahead of tomorrow's Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester City at Eastlands.
Villa were riding on the crest of a wave a fortnight ago as they chased glory on three fronts but have now gone five matches without a victory.
They crashed out of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup to Everton and CSKA Moscow, respectively, and saw a 13-game unbeaten league run ended at home by Chelsea.
Then on Sunday Villa surrendered a two-goal lead against Stoke and missed out on the chance to move eight points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal.
But Young believes the self-belief of Martin O'Neill's squad will enable them to get back on track sooner rather than later.
The former Watford player said: "Everybody in the squad has got a winning mentality. It's not going to change now and we will not take a step back. We will always be stepping forward.
"We go into every game thinking we are going to win - whether it is a team at the top or a team at the bottom. It doesn't really matter.
"The belief has always been there since I came here. This season we set our stall out to finish higher than last season and at the minute we are on course to do that.
"We have the character to get back to winning ways. I've got every hope and belief and that we are going to bounce back. I am confident of that."
Young added: "My confidence is based on the fact that we have always bounced back this season from negativity. If you look at it, we have come back well every time after a poor result.
"The squad, the staff, everyone gets behind each other and the team spirit we've got will always mean we bounce back from negatives and turn them into positives."
Villa will be looking for an eighth successive away league win when they tackle Mark Hughes' side.
