Villa boss Martin O’Neill admits the international break is an ‘inconvenience’ – but believes the busy schedule awaiting his players on their return indicates their impressive progress.

The new season has barely begun but already it has been stopped in its tracks by the opening set of World Cup qualifiers, causing a fortnight-long gap between domestic matches in the top two tiers.

Villa will have to wait the longest of all, what with their next game coming against Tottenham on September 15.

That game will trigger a hectic fixture schedule that will see them playing seven games in less than three weeks. A demanding period, but one O’Neill believes proves Villa are succeeding.

He said: “We’re just getting into the flow of things. We have some points on the board to give us a platform. We’ve got two away games coming up – but the point is that it’s interrupted now by the international scene – so you don’t know where you’re going.

“It’s an inconvenience, but it is the same for everybody. It’s a fairly lengthy time. We don’t play now until Monday September 15.

“Then when we come back the games perhaps give you an indication of whether we’re doing OK.

“We go to Tottenham on Monday night, fly to Bulgaria on Tuesday to play on Thursday night, come back for Sunday’s game against West Brom, we play Wednesday against QPR in the Carling Cup and then we’ll play on the Saturday against Sunderland.

“Then we play the second leg in Europe and then play Chelsea.”

“You know that even if we didn’t get any further in the UEFA Cup, you know that for the next few weeks we’ve got midweek fixtures.

“That’s something that least season, after the exit in the League Cup, we didn’t have. We only had the Premier League games to concern us.”

O’Neill believes the timing of the White Hart Lane clash may initially benefit his players returning from international duty – but concedes it is counter-balanced by the minimal preparation time it gives them for the trip to Litex Lovech.

He said: “I’m hoping that’s better but, having said that, then we travel to Bulgaria for a Thursday night game having played on the Monday night.

“So it’s a tough old schedule for us. But that’s something we have to accept if we’re going to try to be successful.”