O'Neill praises his Villa side

Martin O'Neill praised his young side after they rocked Bolton by 4-0. Gareth Barry and Gabby Agbonlahor were among the goals, and O'Neill now feels Villa can battle for a UEFA Cup spot for next year.

O'Neill said: "We had hit the buffers. We played so well at Arsenal a month ago and if someone had said then we would collect only one more point from the next four games, I would not have believed it.

"It was hard to explain the home performances against Middlesbrough and Sunderland after the way we played at Arsenal.

"We did not create chances in those games and the confidence starts to ebb away. Today it returned.

"The first goal was important and we looked as if we could score.

"They had a good spell just after half time but overall I was delighted with our performance."