After a damaging run in which his Aston Villa side have failed to win at home since January, the manager Martin O'Neill has admitted his team need to improve their home form dramatically if they are to secure a Champions League berth.

Their performances at Villa Park, in which they have won only five out of 15 games, is in sharp contrast to their away record of 10 wins in the same number of matches.

Though the club's next game is away at at Old Trafford in nine days time, O'Neill insisted: "We need to start winning some home games. It won't be the away form that decides things.

"A couple of weeks ago I said I didn't think winning at home was as big a problem. We should have beaten Wigan and Stoke at Villa Park, that would have been an extra four points, another two wins, and you would then think, 'What are we talking about?'

"If the home form had been anything like the away form, we would be in a great position. It isn't. The irony is that the players still like playing at Villa Park.

"Of course, as a game goes on at home, you start to chase a game you shouldn't be chasing, the crowd get a bit restless, then that might be a different issue," he added.