Curtis Davies is ready to return to action for Villa after his ‘pub player’ debut.
Villa go into Sunday’s clash at Gary Megson’s Bolton with question marks over whether Zat Knight will retain his place after he was blamed for two goals in the 4-1 defeat against Manchester United last Saturday.
Boss O’Neill has since moved to defend Knight and history suggests the Irishman will retain faith with the defender, who had been an impressive performer since his £3m move from Fulham.
On-loan Albion centre-half Davies made a faltering debut for Villa in the Carling Cup defeat against Leicester in a performance he described as ‘like a pub player’.
But O’Neill has revealed the 22-year-old is breathing down the defence’s necks after a string of solid reserve appearances.
“I’ve got no qualms about Curtis Davies,” said O’Neill.
“Had we been able to sign him a couple of weeks earlier he might have got into the team.
“As people know, there will always be a concern about Martin Laursen, but I’m obviously hoping Curtis will be here as part of the long term future of Aston Villa.
“Not that he’ll take two years to get into the side or anything like that. He’ll be fine and he did fine on Monday night and he’s getting there.
“He’s getting used to the environment. But despite our hiccup against Manchester United, I think we haven’t done too badly defensively, especially at home.
“So it’s a matter of biding his time. Things didn’t go so cleverly for him against Leicester.
“So maybe there was a feeling of being knocked back by that.
“But now he’s coming back and once he gets that opportunity, he’ll establish himself.
“He’s getting to know the players, but this lad has played Premier League football - albeit 32 or 33 games.
He knows what it’s about and it’s just getting used to the thing.”
O’Neill admits Davies is highly critical of his displays.
“He’s a bright lad and he’s very severe on himself - very self critical.
“I’m not just talking about the Leicester game - even in some reserve games he’s been very self critical.
“That’s very unusual in players in this day and age. What with Shaun Maloney and Curtis, we’ve got the exceptions to the rule.”
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