Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has defended his decision to omit many of his leading players for Wednesday's UEFA Cup clash with SV Hamburg in Germany.
Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry, James Milner and skipper Martin Laursen have all not made the trip for the final group encounter with Villa already assured of their place in the knockout stages in February.
O'Neill admits he has one eye on the hectic festive programme and Villa looking to maintain their push for a Champions League spot.
He made eight changes for the previous game in the competition against MSK Zilina and is likely to make a similar number of alterations against the Bundesliga side.
O'Neill said: "It would have been a different matter had we not qualified already.
"I know there are advantages from finishing first or second in the group because you then get the home leg second in the last 32.
"I still hope the team we play tomorrow will be strong enough to get a result and I hope we can repeat the performance we put in against Slavia Prague when I also made changes.
"But it is a fact that we have got a hectic Christmas programme coming up. It is not quite as severe as other years but is still physically very demanding and some of our players have not had a break.
"Gareth Barry certainly falls into that category with the number of games he has played at club and international level."
O'Neill concedes it will be hard to break into the top four of the Barclays Premier League but that will not stop the former Celtic boss from having such ambitions.
He said: "In the last 10 years only one club, Everton, have broken into the top four, and that was on one occasion.
"It is an aspiration to do that. It is difficult because the top four have been so good for such a long time - but it should be an aspiration."
Hamburg manager Martin Jol almost achieved it twice when manager of Tottenham and O'Neill feels he was given a rough deal by the north London club when they disposed of his services.
He explained: "I have a lot of respect for Martin. He was very unlucky to lose his job at Tottenham considering they went so close to pipping Arsenal one year for fourth place.
"They actually finished fifth two seasons running. Martin was doing well but then one season the team did not make the best of starts - but I am sure he would have turned it around.
"He was very unlucky and he is very highly regarded in England."
Brad Guzan, Zat Knight, Nicky Shorey, Moustapha Salifou, Nigel Reo-Coker, Marlon Harewood and Nathan Delfouneso are under consideration to start against Hamburg.
O'Neill admits he has one eye on the hectic festive programme and Villa looking to maintain their push for a Champions League spot.
He made eight changes for the previous game in the competition against MSK Zilina and is likely to make a similar number of alterations against the Bundesliga side.
O'Neill said: "It would have been a different matter had we not qualified already.
"I know there are advantages from finishing first or second in the group because you then get the home leg second in the last 32.
"I still hope the team we play tomorrow will be strong enough to get a result and I hope we can repeat the performance we put in against Slavia Prague when I also made changes.
"But it is a fact that we have got a hectic Christmas programme coming up. It is not quite as severe as other years but is still physically very demanding and some of our players have not had a break.
"Gareth Barry certainly falls into that category with the number of games he has played at club and international level."
O'Neill concedes it will be hard to break into the top four of the Barclays Premier League but that will not stop the former Celtic boss from having such ambitions.
He said: "In the last 10 years only one club, Everton, have broken into the top four, and that was on one occasion.
"It is an aspiration to do that. It is difficult because the top four have been so good for such a long time - but it should be an aspiration."
Hamburg manager Martin Jol almost achieved it twice when manager of Tottenham and O'Neill feels he was given a rough deal by the north London club when they disposed of his services.
He explained: "I have a lot of respect for Martin. He was very unlucky to lose his job at Tottenham considering they went so close to pipping Arsenal one year for fourth place.
"They actually finished fifth two seasons running. Martin was doing well but then one season the team did not make the best of starts - but I am sure he would have turned it around.
"He was very unlucky and he is very highly regarded in England."
Brad Guzan, Zat Knight, Nicky Shorey, Moustapha Salifou, Nigel Reo-Coker, Marlon Harewood and Nathan Delfouneso are under consideration to start against Hamburg.
Copyright (c) Press Association
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