Martin O'Neill has challenged Aston Villa to become like Chelsea and develop a winning mentality. The Irishman believes Villa have to discover this quality if they are to have genuine aspirations of breaking into the elite group of teams who constantly dominate the Barclays Premier League.

O'Neill said: "Look at Chelsea. They are so strong. I tend to mention them more than any of the other top-four sides but they have a great mentality, work ethic and they are physically very strong.

"It is almost burned into them that winning football games is what it's all about. This winning mentality is vital. It's keeping them going.

"We need that winning mentality as well. It is so important. I can't stress it enough. It's not about being just nearly there, not about 'that's not so bad.'

"It's about a genuine winning mentality.

"We must go out and win football matches - that's the be all and end all. The number one aspect of that is going into every game believing genuinely you can win it.

"I think we have that but it can stagnate and dissipate during the course of a game if you're not mentally strong.

"It's remaining mentally strong and mentally tough throughout the game. You're going to have setbacks throughout the course of football matches. It's having that ability to fight back from those."