O'Neill excited over first derby

The Villa boss goes into derby battle at St Andrew's against Birmingham on Sunday having experienced five years of Old Firm battles with Rangers from his time in charge of Celtic.

As a player he experienced the bitter rivalry between East Midlands neighbours Nottingham Forest and Derby.

But he has already acquired a taste of the intensity of the feelings between Villa and Blues from his players, who have warned him of the "special" rivalry between the sets of fans.

Villa and Blues fans vote in our derby poll here and don't miss all the derby build-up on expressandstar.com and in the paper.

The eagerly-awaited showdown (1pm) is the first since Liam Ridgewell crossed the city divide in the summer when he switched from Villa to Blues for £2m.

The 23-year-old former England under-21 international defender has since become captain at St Andrew's, while he has been an ever-present so far this season.

Birmingham-born Villa Academy graduates Craig Gardner, Luke Moore and Gabriel Agbonlahor, as well as Aston-born Villa fan Zat Knight, know what it means to the claret and blue faithful to put one over on Blues.

And O'Neill revealed the players have already let him know the depth of feelings.

"Treating it like any other game I suppose is easier said than done," said O'Neill.

"It's a special game and I also think it deserves its place, so it probably isn't just "any other game".

"I haven't experienced it, would have said that this city, but the players tell me it's very special.

"So I wouldn't play it down. It's a big game, the lads are looking forward to it – or I think they're looking forward to it anyway, and so am I.

"When the dust settles there are three points up for offer, so from that sense it's like any other, but obviously it isn't because it's very important to the people of both clubs.

"Having been involved in other city derbies, to win the game, whether home or away, I just think is very much a special thing.

"So there's no point in playing it down."