Aston Villa-Burnley: Villans Boosted As Liverpool & Manchester City Draw

Aston Villa may currently remain seventh in the Premier League table, but their hopes of UEFA Champions League football next season were given a slight boost.

Following a fairly comfortable 5-2 win for the Villans over relegation strugglers Burnley at Villa Park, news came through of the big clash up in the City of Manchester Stadium between Manchester City and Liverpool.

The result up in Manchester finished 0-0, leaving Liverpool sixth in the league table but having played a game more than Aston Villa and being level on points, while Man City went into fifth and just one point ahead of the mighty Villa.

Tottenham Hotspur went into that coveted fourth place with their easy 3-0 win over Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium, but they too are just one point ahead of Aston Villa and having played a game more.

So after their good win at home to Burnley, Aston Villa joined Manchester City in leading the line in the race for that lucrative, prestigious fourth Champions League place.

In the game itself at Villa Park, Villa manager Martin O'Neill surprisingly fielded a full strength lineup, with no rest being given to the likes of James Milner, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Stewart Downing.

With an FA Cup fifth round replay against Crystal Palace coming up this Wednesday ahead of Sunday's colossal Carling Cup Final against Manchester United at Wembley, O'Neill's decision not to rest key players shows Aston Villa care just as much about the Premier League and fourth place as they do about winning trophies.

And such a decision by O'Neill was vindicated by the performance on the pitch, as a four goal romp in the second-half saw the home side emerge 5-2 victors after a tricky opening against Burnley.

Stewart Downing scored his first ever goal for Aston Villa, and then scored his second two minutes later as he proved his worth in front of the eyes of Franco Baldini, the right-hand man to England manager Fabio Capello.

A whole plethora of top English talent took to the field at Villa Park, and Baldini surely would've been impressed by the performances of many of Villa's England hopefuls.

Every player who scored for Aston Villa in the 5-2 win over Burnley was English; a positive sign for Villa, the Premier League, and the England team.

Ashley Young equalised for Villa to make it 1-1 in the first half after Burnley took the lead, and it was an exquisite curled shot from the wing wizard that evaded every defender in the penalty area.

Strike duo Emile Heskey and Gabriel Agbonlahor also got on the scoresheet with typical striker's goals, as the latter deservedly won the man of the match award.

So overall it was a convincing win for Aston Villa as they not only look to boost their hopes of UEFA Champions League football next season, but also gain vital confidence ahead of two massive games in the coming week.

The only problem for Villa now is that Gabriel Agbonlahor picked up an calf injury after his goal against the Clarets, and it could potentially rule him out of Sunday's Carling Cup clash at Wembley as well as the midweek FA Cup game against Crystal Palace.

Nonetheless, with Norway striker John Carew available as a more than able backup, along with young attacking sensation Nathan Delfouneso, Aston Villa will not be impacted too severely by his possible absence.