Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill admits he's delighted with the impact made by his three new defensive signings.

Richard Dunne, James Collins and Stephen Warnock have all won great praise for the way they've settled at Villa Park.

O'Neill told TalkSport: "I put all three in together for when we played Birmingham City. That was a tall order for them and they came through that very, very well indeed and obviously as weeks pass they're getting to know each other's play a little bit better, a little bit more and it's been very encouraging.

"All three of them have played exceptionally well since their arrival and of course it has played a significant part in us being able to keep the goals down at the moment, and I stress at the moment. You'd be well aware that we missed Martin Laursen for the second half of the season and I think that was a major contributing factor to us conceding goals and actually perhaps, maybe, not getting one or two set-piece goals from Martin Laursen last year.

"All those things I'm sure are not exactly the end product but they are factors in the makeup of the season."