• Premier League

Guzan confident of Villa survival

ESPN staff
April 2, 2013
Aston Villa have not kept a clean sheet since December © Getty Images
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Brad Guzan says Aston Villa have to improve following the Easter weekend twist that has left them back in the Premier League's bottom three.

Although some breathing space came with Queens Park Rangers' 3-2 defeat at Fulham on Monday night, Villa are below the safety line themselves after fading from a position of half-time promise to lose their home clash with Liverpool 2-1.

"The second half wasn't good enough from our point of view," Guzan said. "We know as players it wasn't good enough. We know it has to be better. For 90 minutes, you have to be able to put together a more solid performance. You have to limit the mistakes and chances we gave away.

"It didn't go our way but it's a bit of a bump in the road. We've shown before that we can bounce back. Regardless of whether we're in the bottom three, you look at the table and see how tight it is.

"There's a lot of football to be played and lot of points to pick up."

A trip to out-of-form Stoke this Saturday is followed by a home game against Fulham. But Wigan's familiar spring improvement has kept everyone at Villa Park on tenterhooks.

"You try not to get caught up in looking at the table," Guzan said. "You focus on yourself. If you do that, you'll be fine. This was not the result we wanted but there's a lot of football to be played. We didn't start the second half well. When you give a team like Liverpool a start like that, you're putting yourself up against the wall.

"You have to come out of half-time making sure you're solid. We can't be easily beaten. After the international break, my focus was back on Villa. For myself, it was two good results with the USA but that's history. It's long gone now. When I'm back on the plane, I'm thinking about Villa and how we're going to prepare."

Despite Guzan's season-long brilliance, Villa haven't managed a clean sheet for 20 games since drawing at home to The Potters in early December.

"A clean sheet would be nice," he said. "At this point, though, it's all about winning. I don't care if we win 5-4. It's about fighting for each other. We have to make sure we come out on top regardless of the scoreline."

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