Young puts his faith in Villa mentality

Ashley Young believes the “winning mentality” at Aston Villa will help them overcome a recent dip in form when their quest for Champions League football resumes on Wednesday.

Villa are away to Manchester City having missed the opportunity to go eight points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal after conceding two late goals in a 2-2 draw with Stoke City last weekend.

The Midlands side recently saw their 13-game unbeaten league run ended by Chelsea while Villa were also knocked out of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup by Everton and CSKA Moscow respectively.

However, Villa and England winger Young said: “Everybody in the squad has got a winning mentality. It’s not going to change now and we will not take a step back. We will always be stepping forward.

“We go into every game thinking we are going to win – whether it is a team at the top or a team at the bottom. It doesn’t really matter.

“The belief has always been there since I came here. This season we set our stall out to finish higher than last season and at the minute we are on course to do that.

“We have the character to get back to winning ways. I’ve got every hope and belief and that we are going to bounce back. I am confident of that.”

He added: “My confidence is based on the fact that we have always bounced back this season from negativity. If you look at it, we have come back well every time after a poor result.”

Victory at Eastlands would give Villa an eighth successive away league win and Young said: “The away form and results have been excellent.

“We attack quickly. We will have to play to our capacity and that’s our next step. We want to go out and get a win. We are just concentrating on each game as it comes.”

Villa manager Martin O’Neill added: “The most important thing now is that we resume the form which carried us up the table during the impressive unbeaten run.

“Our self-belief hasn’t been dented – we have some quality players and we are determined to bounce back. The Premier League is finely balanced going into the final 11 games.

“We intend to give everything possible in our bid to remain in the leading group. Where you finish after 38 games is where you deserve to finish.”