Villa’s Top Four Challenge has Legs. By Andrew Walker

Picture the scene. Sepp Blatter, fed up with England’s dominance of European football, decides to ban all non-British & Irish players from the Premier League. In this post-Apocalyptic world, Aston Villa would probably romp to the league title.

Martin O’Neill faced a tricky pre-season last summer. Early season form had wilted under the stresses and strains of UEFA Cup campaign. His talismanic centre back and captain, Martin Laursen, was forced into early retirement. O’Neill responded by making some understated but extremely savvy signings. New signings Richard Dunne, James Collins, Stephen Warnock & Stewart Downing might not have made headline news in the maelstrom of Manchester City’s spending, but they are all made in a similar image – solid, British, with important top flight experience.

Probably his key signing has been Dunne. One gets the feeling that Dunne was not quite sexy enough for the billionaire owners’ liking. But the over-priced, imbalanced pairing of Joleon Lescott & Kolo Toure is proving about as sexy as Iain Dowie in a mankini.

Richard Dunne may not be the prettiest player to watch, but he is mighty effective, experienced, and you can imagine, a very positive influence in the dressing room. He is a poor man’s John Terry, and that is no bad thing.

The result has been to strengthen the spine of a side that can not only compete with their perennial rivals, but take 9 points from 9 against the seemingly dwindling Top Four. O’Neill is both a great creator of teams but also an impressive developer of players. Exhibit A – James Milner, currently reinventing himself as a creative central midfielder, and making a strong case for a ticket on the plane to South Africa.

Without Europa League distractions, there is no reason to question Villa’s ability to penetrate the Top Four. But with Man City and Spurs also flexing their muscles, it promises to be the most exciting finish to the top half of the table in Premier League history.