Villa defender Stephen Warnock is confident the club’s extensive summer recruitment will prevent this year’s Champions League assault fizzling out like their last.

Just like last term, the claret and blues have reached the campaign’s halfway stage in strong contention for a top-four spot, with Martin O’Neill’s men currently sitting in sixth – two points adrift of the prized positions.

After seeing last term’s challenge crumble in the spring, a return of just one point from their last nine has raised fears history could be about to repeat itself.

But Warnock believes the squad is much stronger this season and believes new boys Richard Dunne, James Collins, Stewart Downing and himself can make the difference this time out.

He said: “It’s difficult for the new players to talk about it because we weren’t here. We don’t understand what went on and how the form was.

“We’ve got to try our best to not let that happen and hopefully the likes of Dunne, James Collins and Stewart Downing can help contribute to that and hopefully keep the lads going.”

Sunday’s goalless draw with West Ham came on the back of consecutive defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool.

But the claret and blues have remained in excellent form in the cups – beating Blackburn in the FA Cup third round and edging ahead in their Carling Cup semi-final with a 1-0 first-leg victory at Ewood Park.

Warnock said: “It’s frustrating, but we know we’re still in there. I think the way we’ve played Arsenal we did well until Cesc Fabregas came on. Suddenly, that little bit of class can change a game and then you are chasing it.

“Then against Liverpool we were very unfortunate that we had a ricochet that bounced through to Fernando Torres in the last minute. You get a draw and it’s a great result. It’s those little things that can change it.

“Will the West Ham game affect confidence for tomorrow? No, definitely not. It’s a completely different game.

“The confidence hasn’t been dented, it’s still high. We still know we are capable of doing well in the league and upsetting teams and we know we are very capable in the cup as well. We have the cup game on Wednesday which is really important to us.

“It was a great result going into the home leg getting the away win. We know that we have set ourselves up nicely to bring them back to Villa Park and hopefully get the right result.”