Aston Villa striker John Carew is promising fans that the players are doing everything they possibly can to make Villa Park not only a fortress again but into a real pleasuredome for supporters.

The Norwegian striker is aware that fans will be disgruntled having seen back-to-back defeats in recent weeks with Villa first losing to Arsenal and then Portsmouth last weekend.

Carew was among those who felt Villa deserved something from the Pompey game as the home side had the lion's share of the chances.

Carew, who joined Villa last summer in a deal which saw Milan Baros go the other way to French side Lyon, is disappointed that the improved home performances under Martin O'Neill this season have not been reflected in results. He said: "We have had four home defeats now and that is four too many. The public pay to come and see us and would have deserved to see even better performances at home.

"As players we are giving our best but we want to give the public the pleasure at Villa Park like we have done away."

Attendances this season at Villa Park are on the up with gates averaging around 40,000 and season ticket sales reaching records for recent seasons.

Fans appear to be flocking back to see O'Neill's vibrant side in action even if results have not really matched the effort levels.

Villa have lost to Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and now Portsmouth in front of home crowds yet both manager and players would concede that they have played better at home than on the road.

Carew was suitably impressed by the man who did the damage for Harry Redknapp's men against Villa last week. Sulley Muntari scored two classy goals - both from between 25 and 30 yards and both with sweet left-footed strikes.

The admiring Villa striker had a couple of chances to bag goals himself but Villa's finishing let them down. Carew said: "Muntari's two goals were great. They were class and sometimes goals like that happen in football. There is not much you can do when goals appear like that. It is always a part of the game that is difficult to do anything about. They were great solo efforts and very difficult to prevent.

"That was not a match we should lose at home. A draw would have been a more fair result but they were two super goals.

"We have had some good away results but we want to share them with our public who turn up at Villa Park, the ones who come every other week. That makes me a bit sad but I am sure we will put it right.

"We are still in a good position. There is no reason to hang our heads. We have had a good winning streak and we have to try for that again."

While admiring his opponents, Carew also praised the young player he believes is Villa's talisman this season: Ashley Young. He believes the winger's wizardry is attracting a lot of attention in the Premier League. Yet opposing teams have now done their homework on Young and are trying to mark him out of the game. Carew said:

"Ashley's getting a lot of attention - his ability has been noticed. Opposing teams are becoming more aware of him but he is still doing his job and, against Portsmouth in particular, he had a very good match even though the conditions were very difficult. They were a very physical side.

"Teams normally can't stop him without doing a foul which is an asset to us because it means that results in a yellow card or a penalty against our opponents.

"Ashley will have to get used to teams putting more defenders on him but it is not anything he can't handle. He should take it as a compliment and that will make him even better."

As for his own fitness, Carew is pleased with the way he has responded since coming back from injury. He said: "I feel sharp. I have felt better and better. I want to top my form with a good week's training and be prepared to take three points from Sunderland this weekend."