Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov is confident that the Villains can challenge cash rich Manchester City in attempting to break into the top four of the Premier League.
Aston Villa came close to securing a Champions League spot last season before a disappointing finale to the campaign and Petrov insists that it has whetted the appetite of Martin O’Neill’s side to progress even further, despite City having embarked on a massive summer spending spree.
The Bulgarian international midfielder feels that Aston Villa’s performance in the 1-1 draw against Mark Hughes’ team on Monday gives them hope they can compete for a place amongst the elite and Petrov said that the experience of being in the top four for much of last season was great and that the players want the same again.
He also added that the early signs have been encouraging and that Aston Villa played Manchester City who are trying to achieve something big which is also the ambition of Villa.
Petrov went on to say that Manchester City will be a force because they are looking to build something big but Aston Villa showed against them that they are not far from them. He added that Manchester City has a chance of the top four, but believes that Aston Villa can do that to.
Petrov added that Villa has shown in the last three seasons that they can compete and that the team has produced good results in that time against the top teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.
He also added that Villa knows what pressure means and that the team faced it the last two seasons and the team will need to cope with it again and be more consistent.
Petrov also added that the experiences of the past couple of years will also stand the younger players in good stead for the battles ahead.