Aston Villa Champions League Worthy; Arsenal Lack Cutting Edge for EPL

For Aston Villa, their game against Arsenal at Villa Park has to be seen as one point gained, rather than two lost in the race for the fourth UEFA Champions League place.

Both Villa and Arsenal had opportunities aplenty to win the match, and both can be criticised for failing to take their chances.

Aston Villa

As usual, the Aston Villa backline was tight and defended quite well, with Richard Dunne once again proving to manager Martin O'Neill that the £6million paid for him was an absolute bargain.

And speaking of Dunne, the Ireland centre-back also proved his ability to dribble the ball effectively, and displayed brilliant close control late in the game as he juggernauted forward. The defender could've had a chance to win the game for the hosts had he not been fouled by Sol Campbell, who appeared lucky to get away with the last-ditch tackle.

However, the Villa defence lacked concentration at times, something which needs to be addressed by O'Neill, and something that should've actually been exploited far more efficiently by Arsenal.

In attack, Aston Villa seemed fairly convincing; wingers Ashley Young and Stewart Downing used the flanks effectively, with the former deservedly winning the man of the match award for giving the Gunners' left-back Gael Clichy a torrid time.

Emile Heskey also had a surprisingly good game, working well with strike partner Gabriel Agbonlahor and the players on the wing to create some fairly decent goal-scoring opportunities.

Overall the Villans seemed worthy of a point against a team with Premier League title ambitions.

Two problems that most certainly need to be addressed in the coaching staff's video analysis session would have to be the occasional, yet costly lack of concentration on defence, and the inability to convert set-pieces and crosses into the box in high pressure situations.

If both problems can be addressed, then from this game it would seem clear that Aston Villa are more than able to compete with Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur for that lucrative fourth Champions League position.

And if they keep up such performances, whilst of course correcting their current problems, there is no reason whatsoever why the Villans can't finish fourth in the Premier League this season.

Arsenal

As for Arsenal , the match at Villa Park on Wednesday has to be seen as two points lost, especially considering their next three matches in the Premier League are against Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Despite hitting the woodwork twice, the Gunners were guilty of the same crime as their opponents: failing to convert their many goal-scoring chances.

Whilst the problem is not so significant for Aston Villa, who are chasing the fourth Champions League place, Arsenal are chasing Premier League title glory, a much tougher task which requires goals to be scored both home and away against the top sides.

The first effort to smack the post, from captain Cesc Fabregas, was well struck and unlucky not to find the back of the net.

However, the second shot, which cannoned off the crossbar from Tomas Rosicky, was a poor finish and should most certainly have found the goal and not the frame.

Arsenal were also equal to Aston Villa in that they too, although to a lesser extent, lacked concentration on defence.

This was most obviously the case with Gael Clichy, who got slaughtered by the fantastic Ashley Young on the left wing.

The game at Villa Park proved that both sides currently appear to be equal; not a problem for Aston Villa, being level with a side who plays in the UEFA Champions League every season.

But for Arsenal, it's a major problem. If they want to be certain of winning the Premier League ahead of Chelsea and Manchester United, then they simply need to be better than teams like Aston Villa.

Carling Cup

In other news for Aston Villa, whilst they were entertaining Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City locked horns at Old Trafford for the second leg of the Carling Cup semifinal.

As you probably all know, Wayne Rooney proved to be the late hero in a truly epic encounter at the "Threatre of Dreams". Roberto Mancini's City dreams were dashed, and United's Wembley dreams re-ignited as the red half of Manchester won 4-3 on aggregate.

For Aston Villa, it all means that they now of course face United in the final showdown at Wembley on Sunday, Feb. 28.

It will definitely be a tough task for Villa, coming up against the current Premier League and Carling Cup champions.

And with England striker Wayne Rooney impressing Fabio Capello, Sir Alex Ferguson and virtually the whole world with his outstanding performances and 21 goals scored for United, the likes of Richard Dunne and Carlos Cuellar on the Aston Villa defence will certainly have their work cut out if they want to win this trophy.