Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has conceded that the Villans' chances of breaking into the top four next season are slim.

Nigel Reo-Coker recently suggested Villa should be pushing to gatecrash the league's 'big four' as Villa look to make the next step under O'Neill.

Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan provoked widespread debate at the back end of last season when he claimed it is almost impossible for any side to break the monopoly of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in the higher echelons of the Premier League.

O'Neill can understand Keegan's sentiments and admits it is getting harder to challenge the top sides.

"To go that big leap into the Champions League is a real big order of events," O'Neill told The Mirror.

"Kevin Keegan has already said he doesn't think Newcastle can and that might put it into a realistic perspective. They are a massive club who played Champions League not so very long ago.

"So if Newcastle, who pay big wages and who average over 51,000 people, can't and are thinking it is going to be hard, then maybe it does put it into perspective."

Meanwhile, O'Neill is determined to bring in new players quickly after losing Olof Mellberg, Thomas Sorensen, Luke Moore and Patrik Berger this summer.

"It's a rebuilding job and we are going to try and start as quickly as we can," added O'Neill.

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