Villa boss Martin O’Neill has urged his patchwork Villa side to summon the spirit of Prague and pull off another unlikely victory against Hamburg.

With qualification to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup assured, O’Neill has left leading lights like Ashley Young, Martin Laursen, Gabby Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry and James Milner behind.

He will instead turn to his fringe players against the Germans. Nathan Delfouneso, Zat Knight, Craig Gardner, Nigel Reo-Coker, Nicky Shorey and Marlon Harewood are all set to start.

It is a gamble which paid dividends out in the Czech capital when Villa, who could finish in any of the top three places in Group F, returned home with a hard-fought 1-0 over Slavia Prague.

But it backfired spectacularly a fortnight ago, when they were humbled by unfancied MSK Zilina.

O’Neill explained: “It would have been a different matter had we not qualified already. I know there are advantages from finishing first or second in the group because you then get the home leg second in the last 32.

“I still hope the team we play tonight will be strong enough to get a result. I hope we can repeat the performance we put in against Slavia Prague when I also made changes.”

Up-and-coming quintet Ciaran Clark, Barry Bannan, Chris Herd, Zoltan Stieber and Shane Lowry have also all been included in a youthful 20-man party.

Yet O’Neill remains confident his squad can give the 2,800 travelling claret and blue fans something to cheer – despite the fact the Germans are yet to taste defeat at home this season.

He said: “It is a fact that we have got a hectic Christmas programme coming up.“It is not quite as severe as other years but is still physically very demanding and some of our players have not had a break.

“Gareth Barry certainly falls into that category, with the number of games he has played at club and international level.”

O’Neill believes his stance on the match will prove to Villa’s benefit in the long run.

He added: “Here is an opportunity, with us getting some momentum in the Premier League, to rest a couple of players who have played a lot of games for us.

“We want to try to win the game if at all possible. I accept that, had we needed something, those players left behind would have been on the plane.”