Villa boss O'Neill: Laursen similar to Chelsea's Terry

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has likened Martin Laursen to Chelsea captain John Terry.

“What he is worth to us, I don’t think you could measure it in terms of money. He has been fantastic and he is there for us every single week,” he told the Birmingham Mail.

“He has many similar attributes to John Terry. He is a centre-half who likes to come and head it.

“When people see a performance like he put in at Everton, a player coming to head things, they get excited by it.

“But we kind of expect that of him now.

“That is a really big part of his game. But he gives us a lot of inspiration and a lot of hope because when it goes into the penalty area, defensively, there is a chance that he will be pretty close to it.

“Now, like everything else he can’t get to everything. But he is a leader in that aspect and that is very encouraging.”