Petrov: Villa have “two equal teams”

Aston Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov believes Martin O’Neill has the quality players at his disposal who can enable him to rotate his starting line-up during the hectic New Year schedule.

Villa face crucial Premier League clashes with Arsenal and Liverpool before the FA Cup third round and Carling Cup semi-final meetings with Blackburn. All the action will take place in a space of 10 days.

Petrov told Press Association Sport, “I think we are making the manager’s job even harder. John (Carew) comes on and scores the winner against Stoke and Steve (Sidwell) could have had a hat-trick even though he only came on for 15 minutes.

“We are all working for the team. It is very frustrating because every one of us wants to play, which is natural for every footballer, but we know only 11 can start. It is good that we have people on the bench like Nigel Reo-Coker and Habib Beye who could easily walk into the team if the manager decides to pick them. That is great competition that can make us stronger.

“I think the manager excepts we might need to rotate, he knows that. That is why we have so many players and we have got two teams equal here now so he can rotate without worrying about getting weaker.”