Richard Dunne is hoping Aston Villa can make it a magnificent seven victories this weekend when they visit Blackburn. "The results have gone really well. There have been three wins since I arrived and Wednesday (against Cardiff in the cup) made it six in a row," the commanding centre-half told the Express and Star.

"If you keep winning games it breeds confidence around the whole club. At the moment the table looks really positive.

"It's going to be quite an open league this year and, the longer we can stay in there at the start, the better the chance we have.

"Any team that can go on a decent run has a really good opportunity of breaking into that top four this season.

"We might as well keep it going and make sure it's us this time."