Bolton defender Andy O'Brien insists it is not inevitable the Trotters will be playing Championship football next season.Gary Megson's side fell closer to the trapdoor after a 4-0 defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday.

They are now four points adrift of safety with five games left and have taken only one point from the last eight games, but O'Brien is still hopeful.

"It's our livelihood at the end of the day, it's what we play football for - to play at the highest level - and we want to be going to Old Trafford and all the big grounds," he told the Bolton Evening News.

"We don't want to contemplate the negative side of it.

"We've lost a game so we have to go and win the next one and that will be the same for the next few weeks. We need to win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season."

More Football News from TEAMtalk