MSK Zilina coach Dusan Radolsky believes Martin O'Neill can lead Aston Villa to UEFA Cup and Premier League glory.

Radolsky, whose side visit Villa for Thursday's UEFA Cup group clash, is a big admirer of what O'Neill achieved at Celtic and now with the Villa.

He has every confidence that Villa can break into the elite group of clubs in the Premier League.  And Radolsky also feels O'Neill has a squad capable of going close to emulating what the Bhoys did five years ago in reaching the UEFA Cup final.

Villa need only a point to ensure they are through to the last 32 and a win will guarantee a place in the top two and a home second leg when the competition reverts to a knockout basis in the new year.

Radolsky said: "I am a big fan of Martin O'Neill. I respect his work and Aston Villa are soon going to belong to the group of top teams in the Premier League.

"They have made good progress under Martin during these past two and a half years. I remember him being in charge at Celtic and he put his mark on that team. Already he has put his mark on this Villa team. They have a lot of quality players."

Radolsky added: "I know Martin has rotated the players in some of the European games, compared to the side he puts out in the league games, but there is still plenty of quality there.

"The quality of the other players is still excellent. They rotated the team in Slavia Prague and still won the game so basically there is no difference.

"I would like to have them in my team! Martin led Celtic to the UEFA Cup final and I think there is a good chance that Aston Villa may advance in the same way."

Radolsky insisted MSK would not arrive at Villa Park just to make up the numbers despite being bottom of the group with one point from the opening three games. He said: "We are expecting our team will perform well as in previous games in the UEFA Cup. We respect the power of Aston Villa but we are determined to try and get a good result and play well.

"We want to try and defend as well as attack. We will see what Villa allow us and what kind of game they want to play.

"The players are excited about playing here. You want to play hard against tough opponents such as this and in those games with Ajax and Hamburg earlier in the group we actually played well and did not score goals.

"We want to play in a similar way but this time put the chances away."