Carlos: Villa mood is just Champion! Players' confidence sky high, says Spanish defender.

Byline: Mat Kendrick

CARLOS Cuellar insists Champions League-chasing Villa have entered the international break with renewed confidence that they can gatecrash the Premier League top four.

Villa's 5-1 thrashing of Bolton last Saturday has leftMartinO'Neill'smen perfectly poised in fifth place ahead of their next Premier League match at Burnley in ten days' time.

And Cuellar, who excelled in his preferred central defensive role against the Trotters, insists the victory came at an opportune time after two draws and a defeat away from home.

"I am happy to play anywhere," said the Spaniard, whose previous firstteam chances have come out of position at right-back this season andmost of last term.

"I will play wherever I am needed, but themost important thing is to play for the team and try to help the team defend. We had failed to win the last three games before Bolton and that was disappointing for us. That is Cuellar is confident of place in top four another three points and that is very important for us. ''We have confidence with us now andwe are making good progress. We are still confident we can get into the top four of the league," he said. Cuellar is full of praise for John Carew following hismatch-winning display against Bolton and admits he is glad to have the Norwegian battering ram as a team-mate rather than an opponent. Carew scored one and was involved in three others as Villa's attack clicked into life to produce the club's most resounding scoreline since their 5-1 victory over Blues more than 18 months ago. "I am happy John plays for Aston Villa," said Cuellar. "I would rather play with him than against him. "Of course as you can imagine, he is hard to defend against. He is diffi- cult to play against and hard to defend. ''In training I sometimes have to play against him and he is really hard to mark. "John is big and he is strong and clever and he is everything for us "John is very big and is probably the best player in the air in the Premier League." Cuellar showed his own aerial prowess when he scored his first Villa goal with a glancing header which Carew would have been proud of to complete the rout against Gary Megson's Trotters. "We learn all the time betweenus anditwas great to score for Villa," he said. "I am very pleased to score especially at home - I am happy with that." Cuellar's dual ambition is to help Villa qualify for the Champions League and force his way into the Spanish national team ahead of next summer's World Cup finals in South Africa. "Getting in the World Cup squad is really hard because the Spain squad is a tough one but I am working hard to try and go to the finals. "It will be difficult but I will try,'' Cuellar said. ''I just hope to keep playing well and then we will see what happens." Villa's Premier League * home match against West Hamhas been put back a day to Sunday, January 17, at 1.30pm for live television coverage on Sky.

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Happy: Carlos Cuellar.