Villa won't give up warns Petrov

Captain Stiliyan Petrov has insisted Villa will "battle until the end" in their fight for fourth despite seeing their dream slip further away against Everton.

The Villa skipper admits even maximum points from their remaining five games might not be enough to secure Champions League football for next season.

An injury-time own goal from Phil Jagielka salvaged a 2-2 draw against Everton but they remain seventh, seven points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City and six off Tottenham, who gave their own hopes a major shot in the arm with a 2-1 win over Arsenal.

But midfielder Petrov is adamant there is no chance of Villa throwing in the towel.

He said: "The fourth place is getting harder to get, but we will battle until the end. Mathematically, we have still got a chance but we need to cut out the mistakes and win every single game.

"We need to win all five if we can give a chance to ourselves. It will be hard but we will try our best.

"Even if we win the five may it not be enough? Probably, because the other teams have the advantage at the moment."

Petrov's sentiments were echoed by boss Martin O'Neill, who conceded reaching Europe's elite competition is now improbable if not impossible.

The captain said: "I thought before the game we probably had to win all the matches to give us a proper chance.

"It would have been a tall order and I would have thought that certainly after this to give ourselves any chance we'll have to win all five.

"It's not impossible but it will be tough. You'd need a bit of luck here and there, but we'll go to Portsmouth on Sunday and we will give it everything."

Petrov did angrily brand Villa's defending unacceptable after they twice went behind to Tim Cahill headers from set-pieces – the second coming just two minutes after Gabby Agbonlahor had made it 1-1.

He said: "It's a disappointing. We found ourselves behind from a set-piece which was soft. We kept battling and got level and then again we conceded another soft set-piece. We don't accept things like that.

"I think we deserved the equaliser, but we've had chances to win this game and again we couldn't do it. We need to see games through."