Villa take on Liverpool tonight with defender Richard Dunne warning fatigue will be “no excuse” for failure in this season’s top-four mission.

A tired-looking Villa slipped to their first defeat in nine games at Arsenal on Sunday and victory for Tottenham yesterday saw them drop out of the top four.

After naming an unchanged line-up for the last five matches, boss Martin O’Neill will be forced to make at least one change with Ashley Young suspended but could be tempted to further freshen up his team for the Villa Park clash.

Unlike last term, the Northern Irishman has quality in reserve to shuffle his pack and Dunne believes Villa now have everything in place to mount a sustained Champions League – but insists they can no longer hide behind tiredness should they fall away again like last year.

“We have a stronger squad this year,” said Dunne. “The manager will rest people when he needs to so there will be no excuses for dropping off if we do.

“I don’t think it should be a problem. There are enough experienced players in the dressing room to keep everyone going. If they get tired there are players that can come in. Hopefully that will be reflected in our results in the second half of the season.”

And Dunne believes tonight’s Villa Park showdown presents Villa with the “perfect opportunity” to get back on track.

He added: “The manager has told us the sign of a good team is how they react to a defeat and tonight gives us the perfect opportunity.”