Sunday Telegraph: One of Martin O'Neill's main goals this summer is negotiating long-term deals for the players who have made Villa the most exciting team to watch outside the big four. Yet the architect of this remarkable reconstruction is still on a one-year rolling contract that started with Doug Ellis back in August, 2006. The deal is up for renewal in August. While there is no suggestion that O'Neill will leave, it must surely be Randy Lerner's top priority to give his man the kind of contract that reflects the progress made and protects the club's development. "I'm sure if things went all right, Randy Lerner and myself would sit down and talk about that," O'Neill said. But Lerner may find it tough getting him to commit long-term. "It doesn't matter if you sign for five or 10 years, you get booted out if the results don't go for you," he said. "It makes it messier at the end of the day. Insecurity has never bothered me, it is something I quite like."

Sunday Telegraph: Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has slightly changed his attacking formation to encourage greater freedom of movement and fluidity. Villa have since scored 15 goals in three games, with the adaptability and awareness shown by the attacking players central to their success.

Independent on Sunday: Braced as they are for a summer fight with Liverpool over the services of Gareth Barry, Aston Villa can today use a game on the other side of Stanley Park as a major sales pitch to their highly influential captain. Win against Everton at Goodison Park and a team who have "exhilarated" their manager, Martin O'Neill, by taking off spectacularly at the expense of the Premier League's smaller fry in the last fortnight will have gone a long way to securing the Uefa Cup qualification that may rebuff the Anfield overtures. Barry has been one of the prime movers in resurrecting a challenge that appeared to have had the life squeezed out of it with a 4-0 defeat at Manchester United last month. Three straight wins, with 15 goals scored and only one conceded, have trimmed the advantage that fifth-placed Everton hold over Villa from eight points (with a game in hand) to three. From nowhere, Villa are now second-top scorers in the Premier League, behind only Manchester United.

Mail on Sunday: If Gareth Barry has any doubts about Aston Villa's ambition matching his own, someone should lock him in a room with manager Martin O'Neill for an hour. Then he would know good and proper. Fighting for a UEFA Cup spot is remarkable considering the club were heading for the Championship a couple of seasons ago. But it is not good enough for Barry when clubs like Liverpool are eyeing him up. And it is certainly not good enough for O'Neill, who promises his sought after captain and Villa's other rising stars there will be proper investment this summer to try to challenge the 'Big Four' for a Champions League place. Victory at Everton today would lift Villa to fifth, but it is that mighty quartet ? Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool ? who are in O'Neill's sights, backed by American owner Randy Lerner. O'Neill said: "A football club of this size really wants to be challenging in the not-too-distant future. We want to be properly challenging and that means the Champions League, absolutely. "My job at Celtic was to beat Rangers to win trophies. Here, we have got to go and challenge the big four in the league. The club is good enough and has the potential to do it. The question is whether the team are good enough at the minute and if there is a gap, we have work to do."

Sunday Times: Periodically - often around the time England go out of World Cups or European Championships - the "traditional" British centre-forward is deemed obsolescent but, like denim, they are never out of fashion for long, and the target man will always have his place in the Premier League, as Everton will be reminded this afternoon. One difference these days is that they tend to be foreign as often as not, agents abroad delighting in flogging coals to Newcastle or wherever, and the best of the breed here at present are Didier Drogba, from the Ivory Coast, Emmanuel Adebayor, from Togo, Nigeria's Ayegbeni Yakubu, Roque Santa Cruz from Paraguay and last, but not least, the 6ft 5in John Carew of Norway and Aston Villa. Carew crosses broadswords with Yakubu at Goodison Park today, when Everton and Villa do battle for three points that will go a long way towards deciding which of them finishes fifth in the league and qualifies for next season's Uefa Cup. The table favours Everton, who have a three-point advantage, but form encourages belief in Villa, who have won their past three games, rattling in 15 goals. Carew has scored three of them, two in the 5-1 rout of Birmingham last week, and is confident of adding to his tally against an Everton team on the slide, with one win in their past six.

News of the World: ENGLAND keeper Scott Carson must wait until the end of the season for Aston Villa and Liverpool to decide his future. Carson, 22, valued at around £10million, has spent the season on-loan at Villa from Liverpool ? but neither club plan talks until the end of the campaign. Villa manager Martin O'Neill said: "All parties will sit down then. We are prepared to leave it. I haven't relayed anything to Scott either way."

Sporting Life: Striker John Carew believes it is vital for Aston Villa to secure European football to help the wealth of young talent at the club to move on to the next level. Carew has played in Europe on a consistent throughout his career and was part of the Valencia side which reached the 2001 Champions League final after scoring the decisive goal in the win over Arsenal in the quarter-finals. The 27-year-old would jump at the chance to play in the UEFA Cup next season, with Villa taking on main rivals Everton in a crunch Barclays Premier League clash at Goodison Park on Sunday. But the Norwegian international feels it is crucial for the likes of Ashley Young, relishing being given a free role by Martin O'Neill, and Gabriel Agbonlahor to show their skills on the continental stage for the first time.

Gulf Times: Martin O'Neill believes his chances of keeping Gareth Barry at Aston Villa next season will be greatly enhanced if his in-form side defeat Everton at Goodison Park today. Barry is attracting interest from Liverpool after the England international made it clear he wants the chance to test himself at the highest level. O'Neill fully recognises that Barry wants to experience the best there is to offer at club level, but at least a UEFA Cup spot next season would give the Villa manager some extra bargaining power when the pair discuss the future at the end of the season. Villa, who start the weekend in sixth spot in the Premier League table, will have to finish fifth to qualify automatically for next season's UEFA Cup. But victory at Everton will see them leapfrog the Merseyside club into fifth with two games remaining.

Coverage From Abroad

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