Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill believes John Carew is playing the best football of his career in a claret and blue shirt.

As he eulogised over his 14th minute strike against Manchester City, O'Neill described his Norwegian giant as "immense" and said he now hoped the centre-forward's injury woes were far behind him.

O'Neill said: "Carew was immense. He was fantastic. When the ball was played up to him for the goal, there was very little on.

"He had loads and loads to do but he turned and held the players off and stuck the ball in fantastically.

"Then he hit the post again. I thought he was unplayable against two of the best defenders in the country in Micah Richards and Richard Dunne who were very strong."

O'Neill said the fact Carew was such a physical presence sometimes meant he missed out on support from referees.

He said: "Referees think because he is 6ft 3in he can take care of himself without a problem but he does get fouled and people are holding on to him all the time.

"He is unorthodox but he can bring it down and play it. The ball into his chest on the edge of the box is exactly what he wants. That is a strong point of his game.

"I think he is consistent enough when you think he has missed a chunk of the season and he is getting fitter.

"He missed seven games so just when you think he is getting on a bit of a run, something might happen.

"That has been a bit of a problem since he arrived. But when he is fit, he is terrific. "

O'Neill said his players had been dejected at the final whistle to be left with just a point after creating so many chances.

He said: "The dressing room was down after game but I've said to them the effort alone was fantastic and to fight back from a goal down was good.

"We've taken the game to Manchester City and the players are disappointed because we feel we should have won. "

Carew also won praise from skipper Gareth Barry who said: "Carew is a top man and has grown in confidence. John is a massive player for us and when he is playing like that he is unplayable to defenders and they were struggling to contain him.

"John will gain even more confidence from this performance and think he will score fair few more goals over this period.

"When you train with John you know he is more than just a big presence and when we are playing we try to use him more than just a target man."

Barry added: "We were not unhappy with the point but disappointed as City are a good team and yet we dominated the game.

"It was slightly disappointing not to win again at Villa Park and disappointing to concede the early goal.

"As the game went on the whole team grew in confidence and we really dominated Man City who are doing very well this year."