David O'Leary is firmly focused on the bigger picture at Villa Park, but he knows that a quick-fix in the short-term is essential to restore the feel-good factor to Aston Villa.

The summer buzz generated by a plethora of new signings has quickly evaporated as the club has slumped to their worst-ever Premiership start.

A dreadful home performance against Middlesbrough two weeks ago capped off a miserable opening to their campaign and O'Leary has called on his team to give the supporters their pride back in Sunday's local derby against Birmingham City.

Six games without a win against the Blues is becoming an irksome statistic for Villa's fans. Another defeat would be hard to stomach and would lead to even more pessimism in the corridors of Villa Park.

Today's annual meeting promises to be stormier than usual, with chairman Doug Ellis expecting a rough ride from disillusioned shareholders.

However, O'Leary knows that in the fickle world of football a win, especially against their fiercest rivals, can cover a multitude of sins.

And while he admits he wants to ensure Villa finish as the city's top-dog for the third consecutive campaign, O'Leary is fully aware of the need to inject some muchneeded belief into their season.

"Three points would give everyone a major lift at the club and it always has that extra feeling in the derby against Birmingham," he admitted.

The hysteria on the day is to win and it is great for the city to have these games, but I won't get carried away if we win.

"Of course, supporters want to win these games but, deep down, they still want to be the top dog over the course of the season. I won't be kidded into thinking that three points is the be-all and endall, as I have got bigger priorities than that."

O'Leary is proud of the fact he has re-established Villa as the city's top team during his two-year tenure. He has led the team to sixth and tenth in the last two seasons, compared to Birmingham's tenth and twelfth-placed finishes respectively.

Villa had suffered the sharp shock of finishing sixteenth - three places behind Birmingham - in Graham Taylor's final campaign, as well as a brace of derby defeats. O'Leary has reversed that trend, but would still dearly love to procure the club's first win at St Andrew's since 1993. "We have got to try to start winning these derby games," he continued . "We were well beaten at Villa Park last season after a dreadful start and bad mistakes.

"We certainly gifted them some goals last season, which you can't afford to do. If you get a result, everybody is elated and if you get a defeat, then everyone is down, but my priorities are to do what I have done for the last two seasons.

"I have a bigger agenda of trying to win a cup and push into Europe and I want to be the top club in the Midlands.

"It is a big ask when you look who we are competing with for the European spots, but we have managed to finish above Birmingham for the last two seasons.

"On my first day at Villa Park, there were about six people who came up to me and said that not only had Birmingham beaten us twice, but we were no longer top dogs either. They wanted us to be top dogs again and that has happened. If we can pick up two or three wins on the bounce, then we will move quickly up the table."

A Villa victory would lead to O'Leary breaking the third jinx during his short tenure at Villa Park. Twenty-two years have elapsed since they last won a top-flight fixture at St Andrew's, but he has already broken the infamous Leicester hoodoo in style.

One win in 15 years was put to bed in some style when Villa beat Leicester three times during O'Leary's first season in charge.

Their solitary Premiership victory this season, which came against Blackburn, was the first time Robbie Savage had featured on the losing side against Villa in 18 meetings - a record that stretched over eight seasons - and with Birmingham poised to make history, they have never previously gone seven successive games without defeat against their rivals, O'Leary is optimistic of bucking the recent trend.

"I hope we end this jinx sooner rather than later, we're all up for it," he said. "I'm determined to do it."