Villa boss Martin O'Neill

Martin O’Neill believes he now has his strongest squad since taking over at Villa Park two years ago.

Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill was one of the busier Premier League managers over the summer, bringing in eight new players while succeeding against all expectations in keeping key midfielder Gareth Barry at Villa Park.

His transfer dealings have clearly strengthened the Villa squad, and not surprisingly therefore, O’Neill is upbeat about their prospects this season as he focuses on securing the best players at Villa Park to long-term contracts, starting with England winger Ashley Young.

“I think the squad is stronger than in the previous two years,” O'Neill told the Birmingham Mail.

"There's a bit of competition for places and we have got players who we have paid money for who we have not even begun playing in the team.

"That hasn't really existed here before and if we are involved in competitions and we are going to be playing Sunday-Thursday, Sunday-Thursday level all the time, you will need the players.

"Every single football club has still got automatic choices - Manchester United have automatic choices when everybody is fit, so do Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton - wherever.

"At the moment we still have a few automatic choices in the team and wouldn't it be fantastic if the automatic choices were no longer automatic?" added the Ulsterman with obvious relish.

Villa - who take on Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Monday week in their next match - signed goalkeepers Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan, midfielders Steve Sidwell and James Milner and defenders Carlos Cuellar, Luke Young, Nicky Shorey and Curtis Davies during the transfer window, and saw Thomas Sorensen, Patrick Berger and Olof Mellberg leave the club.