Villa manager Martin O’Neill has warned his players to forget their forthcoming summer vacations and beat relegation-threatened Newcastle.

He has told his side – ‘This isn’t an end-of-season jolly up.’

The Magpies travel to Villa Park for Sunday’s final game of the Premier League campaign, knowing even a victory might not be enough to save them.

But boss O’Neill is more interested in seeing his side, who currently sit sixth on 59 points, taming the Tynesiders to beat last season’s total of 60 and take advantage of any Everton slip-up to clinch fifth spot – a place higher than last year.

He said: “Those things are incentive enough for us to go and try and win the game. This is not an end of season jolly up for us. For our part, obviously we are desperate to win the game.”

O’Neill has worked alongside Magpies boss Alan Shearer as a pundit, but insists there will be no room for sentiment for his pundit pal come Sunday afternoon.

The Villa boss said: “I know Alan from working together at the BBC. I always felt deep down that management would be something he would want to do.

“He was an absolutely brilliant player. The best post-war British centre-forward that has played the game.

“I am sure that in ideal circumstances he might have wanted a longer apprenticeship in management, but he went straight in.

“The consequences of the games are incredibly big, but that is the way it has panned out.

“Last day drama for me is not something unusual. Almost quite the opposite.

“I think it will be a fantastic atmosphere and we are really keen to win the game.”