Everton 2-3 Aston Villa - GET IN.

What a game.

Ashley Young's last gasp goal proved the decider in a game that swung back and forth between two of the oldest teams in English football.

Steve Sidwell had given Villa a 34 second lead, driving a 71 mph screamer past Tim Howard after neat link up play with Luke Young and James Milner.

Everton reacted well and dominated the rest of the half, getting their reward when Joleon Lescott turned in a Mikel Arteta free kick after a flick on by Victor Anichebe.

The second half was much of the same, with Villa looking to catch the hosts on the break. Then a disastrous backpass from Phi Jagielka set free Ashley Young, who shot past Howard to restore Villa's lead.

Everton pressed hard for an equaliser, and with three minutes of stoppage time on the clock thought they'd saved a point when Lescott got his second with an acrobatic overhead kick past a static Brad Friedel.

Amazingly from the restart, Gareth Barry fed Ashley Young who weaved through Lescott and with seconds left got his second of the game with a placed finish past Howard.

UNBELIEVABLE.

Villa now sit fifth in the Premiership, one point behind Arsenal in fourth.

Safely through to the final 32.

Hardly.

Martin O'Neill went with an under strength side for the 2-1 defeat to MSK Zilina but hopefully last night's shock defeat will serve as a message that Villa cannot afford to take any team likely this year.

Villa qualify from Group F as they, along with Hamburg and Ajax have six points from three games, leaving Slavia Prague and MSK Zilina unable to catch up.

With AC Milan and the teams dropping down from the Champions League it should make for a competitive final 32 phase in the UEFA Cup.

Let's hope Villa can hold their own and not crash out early or embarrasingly like Everton and Portsmouth have done and fly the British flag high on the European stage.

Fulham Preview (H)

Aston Villa can go third in the Premiership this weekend if results go their way, establishing a geniune claim for a top four finish this season.

Should Manchester United and Arsenal suffer weekend defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea respectively, a win at home against Fulham, winless away in the league this season, could propel the Villians to their highest league position of the season.

Luke Young, John Carew and Carlos Cuellar will face fitness tests in their bids to face the Cottagers, while Brad Friedel looks to break David James' record of consecutive Premier League appearances with his 167th straight start.

Not a bad week in the end.

After the two defeats to Newcastle and Middlesborough, I, for one was sceptical going to into games against Arsenal and Manchester United. Having lost 14 consecutive games in all competitions to United and having not beaten Arsenal away since 1997, I was worried we may be in danger of losing ground on the top four and finding ourselves in a disappointing mid-table position.

How ashamed do I feel now?

The best way Martin O'Neill and the boys could have restored our faith in believing a top four finish is actually on the cards this year is by battering Arsenal at the Emirates and holding the Premiership champions to a draw. We could even have won yesterday had the referee not been "overwhelmed", said O'Neill, at the idea of giving Villa a penalty for a blatant foul by Nemanja Vidic on Gabby Agbonlahor. Four points from six though? I'll take that.

Tricky Times at Villa

Arsenal, Manchester United, John Carew injured and four points separating the bottom 10 teams in the league reads awkwardly for any Villa fan right now.

Arsenal at the Emirates has never really filled me with fear. We've played there twice now and come away with two points when it could easily been six barring two late Arsenal equalisers.

Playing Manchester United is basically forfeiting six points a season, we just can't beat them. I can't see next weekend being any different.

The fact we are only five points off tength place is a little worrying. Four points separates the bottom half of the table and should we fail to obtain any points against two of the top four giants we could see ourselves in a less than favourable position in the league.

John Carew being injured doesn't help, and his absence was more than noticeable in the atrocious Middlesbrough performance.

With two league defeats in a row staring us in the face we can only hope that Martin gets a performance out of the boys on Saturday against the hit and miss Arsenal, giving us some belief to really have a go at United and keep us above any unwanted danger below us in the Premiership.

Can any team break into the Top 4?

It's a question that for the last four seasons has resulted in a definitive no, yet with the influx of foreign cash at Manchester City, a potential revival at Spurs under Harry Redknapp and the consistent building at Aston Villa, could this be the year the top four gets rocked to its core?

Not since Everton finished fourth in the 2004/05 Premier League season has a team managed to separate Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal's stranglehold on the champions league places. Tottenham finished fifth two seasons in a row under Martin Jol, which led to some believing this season Spurs could finally break through under Juande Ramos.

Spurs' disastrous start to the season seems to have ruined any chances of that happening, however with a quarter of the season gone the top four has indeed been broken up and by the least likeliest of teams.

Hull have rocked teams to their foundations this season, beating Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle away from home and currently lodging themselves at third in the table. Many believe their remarkable run cannot last, yet what if it does?

Suffice to say, while most neutrals would be generally impressed at their achievement the repercussions would send shockwaves throughout the Premiership. Can you imagine being the team from last year's top four that finishes fifth?

For Manchester United, the european and league champions, it's unthinkable. Avram Grant was sacked from Chelsea after finishing runners up in both the Premiership and Champions League. Rafa Benitez would undoubtedly feel the heat from Liverpool's American owners and Arsenal currently haven't won in a cup in four years.

While the pressure on teams like Man City, Tottenham and Villa is different to the likes of Stoke, West Brom and Bolton, the pressure on the elite of English football is worlds apart.

Take a look at the squads of the top four. Millions of pounds have gone into making four of the strongest squads in Europe. Manchester United spent more than £100m on Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Nani and Anderson. Chelsea have spent upwards of £400m on players in the last five years and Liverpool's current strike partnership of Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane cost £50m.

With this kind of money being invested by owners the demand for success is naturally higher.
Hence why it's been tougher for clubs to compete with these teams as the quality of players coming into the Premiership has dramatically improved.

However the rise of foreign ownership and investment in the Premiership means teams like Manchester City, Tottenham and Villa now face a similar pressure to the top four. Fans and boardroom staff alike want to see their clubs push for the highest prizes in football, in which case something has to give.

For one team to get bigger another team has to get smaller, and you can see millions of pounds more being pumped into the top four before one lets another team push them out.
So who is more likely to be the team to push a top four club out?

Manchester City spent a British record fee of £32.5m on Robinho, twice as much as Stoke City payed for the Britannia Stadium. With six goals in the Premiership to his name already, it looks like a sound investment.

Aston Villa have been steadily building under Martin O'Neill for the last three seasons and have one the youngest, fastest, most predominantly English teams in the league.
Everton, Portsmouth and Tottenham have impressive squads but look out of sight this season, seemingly leaving it a two horse race to the Champions League positions finish line.
Manchester City seem to lack consistency at the moment, banging 6 past Portsmouth and 3 past Stoke only to slip up at Wigan. Champions rarely drop important points so perhaps this season fifth will be their most likely of achievements (unless a epic run of victories leads me to eat these words)

Aston Villa currently lie fifth, just outside the top four. Perhaps a sign of things to come. Martin O'Neill's young side is getting better and better with every game and on their day pose a real threat to any side. Howver, the 2-0 defeat at Chelsea was a real wake up call the Midlands side just aren't there yet.

Can any team then break into the top four? This year looks doubtful. Although if City and Villa become out of reach, there's always Hull to cheer for.

A great day to be a Villa fan....and to accept John Carew's credit card at the Rocket Club

So John Carew thought the best way to remove pre-Ajax nerves was to flash his "cash" in the Broad Street Lapdancing Club, The Rocket Club.

Therefore if, when Big John comes on as a substitute against Wigan and scores a goal within minutes, do we judge the man for supposedly dodgy dealings? Or do we tell the man to go every week?

Martin O'Neill claimed the Norwegian striker's "mitigating circumstances" were unworthy of avoiding a hefty fine from the club but must have been delighted with the striker's response to being left out of the Ajax game and being benched for the Wigan game.

Villa fans must also have breathed a collective sigh of relief, and maybe a wry smile amongst the male fans when those "blood tests" O'Neill sent Carew to take for his "illness" turned out to be all clear.

Is there a lesson to be learned here? John Carew merely showed himself to be a normal man with hormones rather than the robotic stereotype of the "dumb" footballer and yet gets punished more than William Gallas being caught puffing away on a cigarette.

You can see Martin O'Neill's logic for Carew's fine due to the striker's awkward timing in visiting the club the night before Villa's biggest european game in recent memory. Yet surely his crime is no worse than Gallas filling his lungs with nicotine while driving?

All I know is, as a Villa fan, I'm oddly proud of our target man centre forward for not only showing his skills on the pitch but also showing that above all else, he's every bit as much as normal as the rest of us (who can afford the Rocket Club anyway).