Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce: We can still catch Wolves

A run of seven consecutive league wins has seen Villa climb to second in the table but they still trail their West Midlands rivals by 12 points.

Yet Bruce has pointed to his own experiences as a player with Manchester United as proof such deficits can be overhauled.

The former centre-back was part of the United team which erased Newcastle’s 12-point lead to win the Premier League title in 1996.

And he said: “I remember it. Nobody gave us a chance.

“But we fluked a 1-0 win at St James’ Park when Eric Cantona scored at the far post and all of a sudden we were on their coat tails. We ended up winning by 12 points, so it’s all to play for.

“Wolves have been the outstanding team. The amount of points they’ve got now is enormous for this part of the season.

“All credit to them, they’ve had an unbelievable season. But they’re still there to be shot at.”

Villa sat ninth as recently as December 29 and having made up so much ground in recent weeks, Bruce is keen for his team to keep looking up.

He said: “Our mentality doesn’t change. Can we catch Wolves? Can we mount a challenge and put them under pressure?

“That’s my thought.

“People say 11 or 12 points is maybe too much but that’s what we’ve got to try to achieve.

“We play them at home in a few weeks and that’s got to be the challenge to us all.

“We haven’t got anywhere near them yet but can we do it?

“There are 15 games to go, still 45 points to play for.

“We’re in a good position, we’re looking decent at the moment, we’ve got all the top teams to play at home so it’s in our hands because of the run we’ve been on.

“So it’s important now that we start to look up and have a go. Why not?”