Villa defender Richard Dunne has challenged the team to make it seven straight victories at Blackburn and be part of the Champions League-chasing breakaway pack.

Martin O’Neill’s men head to Ewood Park tomorrow brimming with confidence, after Wednesday’s defeat of Cardiff made it six successive wins.

They sit fifth in the table with 12 points from their first five games, as well as boasting a game in hand over most of their rivals.

With the big four, Tottenham and Manchester City making up the rest of the top seven, Dunne admits Villa need to maintain their fine start if they are to have any chance of realising their top-four ambitions.

He said: “The results have gone really well,. There have been three wins since I arrived and Wednesday made it six in a row.

“If you keep winning games it breeds confidence around the whole club. At the moment the table looks really positive.

“It’s going to be quite an open league this year and, the longer we can stay in there at the start, the better the chance we have.

“Any team that can go on a decent run has a really good opportunity of breaking into that top four this season.

“We might as well keep it going and make sure it’s us this time.”