McLeish confident of avoiding drop

Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish is confident he will not suffer the misery of being relegated from the Barclays Premier League for the second successive season.

McLeish went down as Birmingham boss last May, with Wolves pushing them into the bottom three on the final day of the campaign, and now Villa find themselves only five points above the drop zone and with eight senior players sidelined.

Asked about the prospect of back-to-back relegations, McLeish said: "I don't believe it will happen. That is my school of thought. I know the media will bring it up, that's fine, I can handle that. It will maybe be on the tip of everyone's tongue. It is not something I believe will happen."

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