Aston Villa's Stiliyan Petrov wants no respect for the Big Four
Published 23:59 29/10/09 By By James Nursey
Stiliyan Petrov insists Aston Villa must show the Big Four no respect if the club are to secure a Champions League spot.
Bulgarian midfielder Petrov, 30, will lead out seventh-placed Villa at Everton tomorrow in the Premier League.
And skipper Petrov has taken great encouragement from the fact David Moyes’ Everton side finished fourth in the 2004-05 campaign.
Villa came up just short last season as they finished sixth despite being in the top four for most of the season.
But Villa have made a promising start to this campaign by beating Liverpool and Chelsea.
And Petrov said: “Everton have showed how teams need to do it when they broke into the top four.
“They were really consistent, really strong and they didn’t pay that much respect to the top four.
“They played their own game, they fought for every point they could get.
“If us, Man City, Tottenham or whoever want to do that this year, we need to be more consistent, we need to be very strong.
“The way our game is set up, we have enough players to score goals.
“We also hope we will have a better chance to make the top four this season because the other big clubs have lost some players but we won’t count our chickens.
“The only way we can do it is by raising performances and getting consistency. If we can do that, we have got a good chance to be very close.”
Petrov and his team-mates thrilled supporters yesterday when Martin O’Neill’s squad trained at Villa Park in front of 12,000 young fans on half-term.
And the midfielder is desperate to win something with the club after joining from Celtic in August 2006 for £6.5million.
Petrov saw his hopes of playing in the World Cup with Bulgaria evaporate earlier this month when they failed to qualify.
But he is upbeat about his team’s prospects domestically after Villa beat Sunderland on penalties to reach the Carling Cup quarter-finals.
Petrov added: “Silverware would be the best thing for the fans because they have been great to us, especially since the start of the season.
“They have been amazing. They expect a lot of things from us and it is up to us to deliver.
“It is going to be very difficult. A lot of teams are lining up to try and get silverware – but we are one of them and I am happy we are."
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