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O'Neill lauds "brilliant" Chelsea

06/10/2008

Aston Villa Martin O'Neill lavished praise on Chelsea after they dominated his side in a comfortable 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.

The Villans were never allowed to get out of first gear against the Blues, who were on top from start to finish and sealed the win thanks to goals from Joe Cole and Nicolas Anelka.

And afterwards, O'Neill waxed lyrical about his opponents, who head the Premier League table on goal difference going into the international break.

"I thought that Chelsea were absolutely brilliant. They were magnificent and too good for us," the Ulsterman said.

"That's what you aspire to in this game. We have to regroup now, go again and take it on.

They were exceptional. We never got close enough to them and they showed why they are one of the top sides in Europe."

While Villa have been rightly praised themselves for playing attractive and attacking football at a quick pace so far this season, which has yielded results at the same time for the Midlanders, O'Neill admitted the match against Chelsea showed his side still have a long way to go to challenge the top four.

"If we want to compete with the very best then we've got work to do," he added.