Aston Villa have the chance to cement their place in the top three when they welcome rivals Arsenal to Villa Park on Boxing Day.

Gareth Barry, 27, was just a teenager the last time Villa went into a Boxing Day fixture in third place.

Then, under the management of John Gregory, Villa faded away in the second half of the season but Barry is adamant that will not happen this time around.

He said: "We started unbelievably well but fell away. It is a different feeling now because we have picked up our form over the last six games and gone shooting up the table. Hopefully we can keep it going.

"It was a fantastic win (at West Ham). We battled well out there. We have to give credit to West Ham because they played very well in the second half.

"Brad Friedel pulled off a few great saves and kept us right in it. We had to dig in. A lot of the lads felt tired in that second half and probably came off the pitch feeling they had not done too well.

"But if you are going to achieve things you need that bit of luck throughout the season and we came off the pitch knowing that we had fought hard but not played to our best.

"It was as big as any three points this season. Everyone is buzzing with the three points. That is always the main thing."