Gardner vows to fight for his place.

Byline: Mat Kendrick

CRAIG Gardner is ready to battle for a central midfield place at Villa after the transfer window closed without a much-talked about move materialising.

After a lack of first-team football last season, Gardner was linked with a host of clubs during the summer, including Blues and Wolves.

But the deadline passed with the boyhood Villa fan still at his favourite club and with a renewed desire to become a regular under Martin O'Neill.

Despite Gareth Barry's departure, Gardner's opportunities would appear equally limited following the capture of teenager Fabian Delph from Leeds.

The Brummie midfielder faces competition from Delph, Stiliyan Petrov, Steve Sidwell and Nigel Reo-Coker for a place in the middle of the park.

"This is a massive season for me," he said. "I'm 22 now and I want to be involved in more games. Last season I played in quite a few cup ties but not as many Premier League games as I would have liked. All I can do is work hard in training and hope I get picked. But there's a lot of competition for places.

"My preferred position is central midfield and we have Stiliyan Petrov who is awesome, Fabian Delph who is brilliant, plus Steve Sidwell and Nigel Reo-Coker .

"It's obviously very hard to compete against players like that, but I'm not the kind to roll over. I intend to keep fighting for a place. We'll just have to see what happens. It's good to be part of such a great set up. We have the right people here in terms of the manager and the staff and I think we'll do well again."

VILLA NEWS: Page 2