Martin O'Neill believes Aston Villa's recent performances have served as a reality check and he admitted the club still have "miles to go".And the honest O'Neill even conceded he "had to do better" after a run of two points from the last four games has virtually ended their hopes of a top five finish in the Premier League and European football.

Villa impressed in drawing at Arsenal - denied victory by only a last-gasp goal from Nicklas Bendtner - but since then they have been below par against Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Sunderland.

Now Villa face a daunting trip to face leaders and title favourites Manchester United in Saturday's tea-time clash - a side they have not beaten in the league for 12 years.

O'Neill said: "The players since Arsenal have been disappointing. The way we played at the Emirates Stadium, when we were only seconds from victory, you wouldn't have expected the performances we have put in after that.

"You certainly would not have expected the two home games (with Middlesbrough and Sunderland) to have yielded only one point from six after the confidence that been exuding from the team.

"But it is my responsibility and I have to rectify it. The long and the short of it is we have got ourselves in this predicament and we have to do something about it.

"We have got to look at our performances in the last few games and say we have miles to go. I am going to look at things and analyse them but we have got to get it right.

"There is no-one else. It is my job. I have to do better. If there are plaudits flying around you take them, so I have got to take this as well.

"Maybe it is a (reality) check for all of us. Not that I was getting carried away, but I expect better from us. We've got to get back to winning.

"To me, there is no sense of the season fizzling out. We've still got nearly a fifth of the season to play. It is a lot of games, almost a couple of months still."

Olof Mellberg is likely to return at right-back in place of Craig Gardner after he missed the 1-0 home defeat against Sunderland through suspension following his sending-off at Portsmouth.

O'Neill also has to decide whether to persevere with goalkeeper Scott Carson whose confidence has looked shot to pieces in recent games and he was partially to blame for Michael Chopra's winner for Sunderland.

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