Samuel, Bardsley & Petrov

Left-back Jlloyd Samuel says on-loan defender Phil Bardsley is exactly the sort of player Villa need in the run in to the end of the season.

Samuel told his icons website: ‘It was Phil Bardsley’s first game in a Villa shirt and he did really, really well. He looks very sharp, and you can see the class he has got from playing for Manchester United. It’s great because he is still young and looks like a great prospect for the future. Phil plays in the same position as Gary Neville, and he has obviously learnt a lot from him from his time at Old Trafford. He gets tight to people and is good on the ball, which can only be a good thing for us while he’s here.’

Adding: ‘We are 15th in the table now and everyone at Villa knows we need to start winning, but none of us are panicking about our position. After losing to Manchester United three games in a row, we know we have a long way to go but it hasn’t dented our confidence. Far from it, it has just highlighted what we need to do, we need to stand up and be counted. I played again last weekend at Old Trafford, I was on for the entire second half and I think I did well. The manager wanted a reaction from us because we were losing 3-0 and I think we did that, we didn’t concede again and hopefully he thinks I played my part.’

‘It will be nice to play against someone else this weekend! We have enjoyed our games against Man United but we go into this weekend’s game against Watford knowing it is a must-win. We need to start picking up some points. Both us and Watford have gone a while without winning and I’m expecting a tough match, we are both in need of a win. But we are at home and we feel that we can use our home advantage to get all three points.’

‘We know we can definitely get on a good run again; all we need is that first win to come, hopefully that will start against Watford on Saturday.’

I hope Samuel can get a run and show the fans what he can do, I’m convinced with less bad luck injury wise, he could be a major asset for us.

Meanwhile Stiliyan Petrov looks set to miss the game with his hamstring injury but could be in contention for a return when we face Newcastle United at St James Park on January 31st. Martin O’Neill told the official site: ‘He’s getting stronger by the day, but he hasn’t trained with us at all this week, so his chances of facing Watford tomorrow are quite slim. But by the time we face Newcastle United, I’m hoping that he will be in relatively good shape.’