O’Neill – Villa Confidence High

Martin O’Neill is looking for some home comforts this afternoon against Portsmouth.

Villa haven’t won at home since we beat West Ham in February.

O’Neill said of this afternoons game: ‘Ending with a couple of home wins would be tremendous. This is a big game for us and I’m looking forward to it immensely. We’re in a good run at the moment and away from home we’re fine, but it would be nice to have more home wins. I thought the performance at home to Wigan was good – we did everything but win the game – so it’s not as if we’re apprehensive about playing at home.’

‘The form is good, the confidence is very, very good at the moment, so we’re looking forward to it. Scoring goals has been a bit of a problem all season, but we’re trying to rectify it – isn’t everyone. But the last few games have been very encouraging and I’ve been pleased with the performances and the attitude. Obviously with four games to go now, I’d like to win as many as we can and finish as high as we can.’

‘It was a great performance at Blackburn Rovers, a great performance in the second-half against Middlesbrough and I couldn’t be more pleased. Is all of this coming at the wrong stage of the season? I don’t particularly believe that. We’re looking to get confidence as high as possible. I think it’s always too easy to make assessments halfway through the season. I’ve said all along that wherever we finish at the end of the season, after 38 games, is where we’ll deserve to be.’

O’Neill has also praised Portsmouth saying on the official site: ‘Portsmouth have had a super season, no doubt about it. He came in at a time when they were on their knees and they got out of the quagmire last season which was a great, great effort. The number of points they garnered at the end of last season was incredible – it was championship form and I don’t mean the division below us! They’ve carried that on this season with some really astute buys, good determination, great spirit and a crowd right behind them from day one. They’ve never been out of the top six or seven in the table, they’ve kept that going all season and have done remarkably well.’

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Lawro and Mystic Mug tip Villa to win.