Ashley Young confident Aston Villa can stay in top four
It may prove a microcosm for their season. Aston Villa, already well in the hunt for a place in the top four of the Barclays Premier League, have added a tendency to change games with late goals recently and Ashley Young, the winger, suggests that this staying power could extend to their challenge for a place in the Champions League.
They may be the new kids on the block when it comes to competing with the “big four”, but Villa have proved with their victories over Hull City, on Tuesday, West Ham United and Everton, and in their recovery against Arsenal, whom they knocked back down into fifth place with the win at the KC Stadium, that they do not know when they are beaten.
“When teams don’t play well and still pick up points, that is the sign of a good side,” Young said. “We did that [on] Tuesday. We didn’t play well but our team spirit got us through to the final whistle. We got the goal late on and we survived.
“When we played Arsenal, we were 2-0 down at home and yet we got what we deserved out of the game. A lot of wins have come in the last few minutes, like at Everton, but we were just delighted to get the three points.”
Villa are undefeated in eight league games — a spell in which they have benefited from four own goals. They are level on points with Manchester United, having collected five more than they had at this stage last season, when they finished sixth. Gareth Barry said: “It’s probably a couple of times now, here [at Hull] and West Ham, where we haven’t played that well and yet still come away with three points. So hopefully the luck’s with us this season. At the same time, we battled so hard and the back four defended so well, they deserved a clean sheet.”
Young, having scored a brilliant winner at Goodison Park last month after Everton had equalised in stoppage time, and claimed an assist when Zat Knight equalised against Arsenal on Boxing Day, was again the protagonist on Tuesday.
The England winger provided the cross that Kamil Zayatte, the Hull defender, put through his own goal in the 88th minute, and then escaped when Steve Bennett, the referee, initially awarded a penalty against him for handball before correcting his decision after the assistant referee confirmed that Luke Young’s misdirected header had struck the crossbar.
If Villa are gaining credibility for their challenge to the establishment, in football terms, did they undermine the FA’s Respect campaign by appealing en masse to Bennett to consult his assistant? Martin O’Neill’s players contend that, far from bullying the referee, they abided by the governing body’s new remit because Barry, captain in Martin Laursen’s absence through injury, led the appeal.
“The new ‘law’, with the captain allowed to go and speak to the referee, is working really well,” Young said. “Gareth went up, when the decision had been made, and, although a few of the other boys followed, he was the main one going to speak to the referee and linesman for us. The referee’s then changed his mind, made the correct decision, and we’re delighted to get the three points.”
Barry added: “The campaign they’ve tried to bring in this season is about communication between the captain and the referee, so hopefully it was the right thing to do.”
O’Neill yesterday dismissed suggestions that John Carew will not be available until March and suggested that the Norway striker’s comeback from a back injury will be sooner rather than later. “We are not sure exactly when it will be,” the manager said. “We are taking it steadily but he is making progress.” That will not stop O’Neill pursuing another striker during the transfer window although he has stated that Jermain Defoe, the Portsmouth forward, is not a target. Facing stiff competition, he is likely to bid for Wigan Athletic’s Emile Heskey.
In the meantime, O’Neill is likely to ask Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor to lead Villa’s attack and hinted that he will name a strong line-up for Sunday’s FA Cup tie away to Gillingham. “There’s plenty of time for them to rest when we’re out of the Uefa Cup and the FA Cup,” he joked.
Young is only too happy to keep playing, although he would not mind if Villa did not leave things so late against the Coca-Cola League Two team. “It will be a tough game going down to Gillingham,” he said. “We’ll be on our toes though and ready for what they throw at us. It’s a one-off game. There are a lot of upsets so if we get off to a good start that will stand us in good stead.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/aston_villa/article5425469.ece
