O'Neill - CL hopes all-but over

Villa boss disappointed with defending against Everton

Last updated: 12th April 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

O'Neill - CL hopes all-but over

O'Neill: Won't give up just yet

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Martin O'Neill is pessimistic about Aston Villa's UEFA Champions League chances after a 3-3 draw with Everton.

Villa twice came from two goals down to secure a home point, with Gareth Barry ramming home a 66th minute penalty after Stiliyan Petrov had been caught by Joleon Lescott's high boot.

The result leaves Villa eight points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with just six games of the Premier League season remaining.

And O'Neill concedes the draw with Everton, who had also been hoping to catch Arsenal, has all-but ruled his team out of the running for Champions League qualification.

Not giving up

O'Neill said "Are we out of the Champions League? I would not disagree. I think either of us had to win to keep in touch. It is a result that suits Arsenal.

"With Arsenal winning yesterday it will now be very hard, but we shouldn't just give up the fight like that.

"Arsenal have some very tough games ahead, so have we, so we just have to go and win them and see what happens.

"I am not giving up, but it will be very hard."

The Villa boss was happy with his team's character in forcing a draw as John Carew and James Milner joined captain Barry on the scoresheet.

He added: "I thought we were fantastic going forward, although defensively we were not so clever.

"But we showed tremendous character and determination when 2-0 and 3-1 down and the fans were fantastic towards us today."