Paddypower.ie – Premier League
www.paddypower.ie – Aston Villa chief Martin O’Neill acknowledges a position in the top four of the Premier League is the club’s ‘Holy Grail’ after leaving out eight first-team regulars for the Uefa Cup.
O’Neill has excluded Gareth Barry, Brad Friedel, Emile Heskey, James Milner, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Carlos Cuellar and Stiliyan Petrov from his 19-man squad for the jaunt to CSKA Moscow on Thursday.
Villa dropped away from 3rd to 4th in the Premier League as they suffered 1-0 at home to Chelsea on Saturday.
O’Neill found his players were exhausted after tying 1-1 with CSKA Moscow in the first leg of their round of 32 tie on Wednesday night.
CSKA savour a slim advantage after registering a 1-1 draw at Villa Park in the first leg, only O’Neill has resolved to balance his superstar assets as the club expect to come through in Russia.
Villa are hoping to qualify for next following season’s UEFA Champions League through ending up in the top four of this term’s Premier League, and O’Neill has repeated his confession that domestic affairs assume precedence.
But O’Neill acknowledges that it is an awkward conclusion to downgrade the Uefa Cup after Villa – who presently ride fourth in the league – battled through the pre-season Intertoto Cup to gain a berth.
Villa striker John Carew – who is a member of the team journeying to Moscow – has endorsed O’Neill’s tactical call.
Carew has been exercising to retrieve full physical fitness coming after a three-month back complaint and he has been pressured to contend with a seat on the bench in past weeks.
But the once Lyon and Valencia man is convinced he could shortly influence his way ahead of either Gabriel Agbonlahor or Emile Heskey in O’Neill’s pecking order. www.paddypower.ie
For UK Sports Betting Odds click the link
