Martin O'Neill has challenged Aston Villa not to allow a season of progression to fizzle out ahead of Saturday's clash with Manchester United.He is looking for his team to recapture the form that saw them come within a few seconds of victory against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium only three weeks ago and rekindle their European push.

O'Neill believes Villa should have taken great confidence from that 1-1 draw but instead they collected only one point from the next three games including a shock 1-0 home reversal by Sunderland last weekend.

That left the Irishman at his lowest ebb during his time at Villa with the added frustration of not being able to work with the majority of his squad this week because of international matches.

But O'Neill wants Villa to rekindle the form that took them into the top six, although the task could not be more daunting given United are unbeaten in league meetings with the Midlands club for 12 years.

O'Neill said: "The performance against Arsenal should have been the spur for us to kick on and I thought it was going to be.

"But the two home games against Middlesbrough and Sunderland have been particularly disappointing, occasions when we haven't created much and we have looked poor.

"You would be hard pressed to give a proper reasoning for it after the performance against Arsenal. We have not lacked the desire but we have certainly lacked a fizz.

"I was low after the Sunderland game. If we had played Sunderland off the pitch, created lots of chances and lost, I could have genuinely accepted that.

"But we were disappointing and I don't want us to be disappointing when it is important for us not to be disappointing. That is what we have to learn. Now we have to get back on track.

"At a time when we haven't exactly excelled ourselves at all in our performance against Sunderland, you would like to think you could try and iron out a few things if at all possible.

"But we have been working with four or five of the squad and some of them only got back today."

O'Neill is taking heart from the fact Everton have also faltered in recent games as he clings to the hope of still contesting fifth place and qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

He said: "Everton are at this minute finding it as difficult to get points on the board as we have been doing.

"They've been brilliant all season, in a couple of cups and in the league, and now suddenly they've found it difficult and yet they are only a win away from Liverpool.

"We have enough points to play for between now and the end of the season to still get into Europe. We have got to win a game or two and, at the moment, I wouldn't give up on anything."

United tackle Roma in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final next week but O'Neill does not expect Sir Alex Ferguson's side to shift their focus from the task immediately in front of them.

He said: "Not for one minute will playing Roma mean they will take their eye off playing us. Manchester United have been challenging for major honours every single year for well over a decade so I don't think they will take their eye off the ball.

"They're used to these situations and, when you get to March and April, the big teams have crunch games, be it in the Champions League or the Premier League.

"They've been through it before. Each match that arrives presents us with different problems but the big clubs can all cope with it and they retain that hunger to stay in there."

Keeper Scott Carson has shrugged off the knee injury that forced him to withdraw from the England squad against France but midfielder Craig Gardner is out for three to four weeks

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