Houllier: Villa are in a relegation fight

Gerard Houllier admitted Villa are firmly embroiled in a relegation battle as he ponders whether to gamble on the fitness of Ashley Young for their trip to Chelsea.

Villa were emphatically beaten by Manchester City at Eastlands yesterday and have now lost five of their last six Premier League games.

It has left the Claret and Blues hovering just above the drop zone and while Houllier acknowledged they are in trouble at the wrong end of the table he believes they have enough quality to get their season back on track.

"Yes we are definitely, we were before the game and we are now," said Houllier. "We knew we would have difficult run of games over Christmas with Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea next. But I am confident we have the personnel to turn it around.

"Before this game if we had three points more, which could have been ours when we played either Fulham or Manchester United at home, it would have put us in the top half.

"The way to look at it is there's a drop zone behind and we're very near, so we are in a fight for that. I acknowledge that.

"We need to turn the corner. Do the players have the spirit? Yes, this is my view I think the players are aware we're going through a difficult run."

Villa travel to Chelsea on January 2 and with the majority of the other teams at the bottom of the table playing 24 hours earlier Villa could even find themselves in the relegation zone by the time they step out on the Stamford Bridge pitch.

Houllier must consider whether to include Young in his side to face the Premier League title holders as the midfielder recovers from the knee injury he sustained against Albion.

Villa certainly missed Young's energy and enthusiasm in what was flat performance against City and the Houllier is optimistic that he will be available.

"Ashley trained for the first time on Monday and that's normal. He had a medial ligament injury, a minor tear which can be two to three weeks," added the Villa boss.

"I think he'll be available for the Chelsea game but we've had to deal with a lot of injuries.

"Emile Heskey didn't make it because he twisted his ankle in the game against Tottenham when the goalkeeper landed on him."