Villa boss Martin O'Neill

Martin O'Neill is confident Aston Villa will be able to hang on to key players such as highly-rated duo Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young even if they fail to qualify for Europe.

Villa now have to finish in the top five of the Barclays Premier League to achieve that goal after Tottenham's Carling Cup triumph and the failure of the 'big four' to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

They are currently eight points adrift of Liverpool and Everton going into tonight's game in hand against Middlesbrough at Villa Park.

Agbonlahor has already been the subject of speculation linking him with a £15 million move to Arsenal, while Young has forced his way into the England squad.

But manager O'Neill has no fears about losing the star pair if Villa miss out on a spot in the Champions League or UEFA Cup.

He said: 'Playing in Europe can help take players onto the next level and people like Gabby and Ashley are the ones I have in mind when I am thinking about that.

'Of course, it is possible to even lose quality players to a team who are not in Europe. But I'm not fearful of losing players if we don't make it this season.

'The reason I want to qualify for Europe is not to keep these players because I think most of them will want to stay anyway. It is because it will aid their development.

'I think we have established a viewpoint that younger players get the chance to shine in the side here and that the club is progressing. We haven't seen any fantastic rotation policy here and these boys enjoy playing week in and week out.'

O'Neill concedes Villa are entering a crucial in their bid to overhaul either Liverpool or Everton with a trip to Portsmouth on Saturday following on from the clash with Gareth Southgate's side.

He said: 'It's a massive week. We've got two games in three days and I think it's a very important time for us.

'It's always an important time in fairness - but it's magnified now because we don't have the time or the games to put it right if things goes wrong.

'We've got 10 games left, we're eight points off fifth place and we need to win most of them. There is less room for error now and a repeat of how we finished off last season would be very nice.' Villa were unbeaten in their final nine games of the 2006-2007 campaign to banish any fears of relegation.

Central defender Zat Knight is set to replace Curtis Davies who will be out of action until October with a ruptured achilles.

Right-back Olof Mellberg and midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker are in contention after recovering from ankle and back problems respectively.