O'Neill admits Rooney threat

Villa boss dubs United forward a 'brilliant' talent

By James Riach   Last updated: 9th February 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

O'Neill admits Rooney threat

Rooney: Threat to Villa

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill knows Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney will be difficult to contain in their Premier League clash.

United travel to Villa Park on Wednesday as they look to keep the pressure on Chelsea at the top of the table.

The Red Devils go into the game on the back of four successive victories, with Rooney in magnificent form.

The England international tops the league scoring chart with 21 goals to his name so far this season.

O'Neill knows it will be tough to stop the former Everton youngster, but believes his side have players of their own that have the quality to cause problems.

"He's playing brilliantly and as I said he's a brilliant footballer and has been for quite some considerable time now," he said.

"You could see that in his very, very early days at Everton and he is definitely maturing into a wonderful player.

"He's got a fantastic attitude as well and I think that is almost as important as his ability and he will be hard to handle.

"But we've got one or two players ourselves in terms of having ability that will cause Manchester United a few problems."

Villa have conceded the least number of goals in the English top-flight this term, with a watertight defence that has only been breached 18 times in 24 games.

A repeat of the win against United at Old Trafford earlier in the campaign would see the Midlands outfit continue their hunt for a UEFA Champions League place.