Ciaran Clark: 'Aston Villa will stay up'

Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark has expressed his belief that his side will not be relegated this season.

Villa currently sit 17th in the Premier League table, just three points clear of the bottom three having played a game more than 18th-placed Wigan Athletic.

However, the Midlands club have won two matches on the bounce against fellow relegation candidates, and Clark believes that these results will help them kick on and avoid the drop.

When asked if Villa would stay up, the 23-year-old said: "Yes. After those two games, it lifts the confidence. We are trying to take each game as it comes and concentrate on each game at a time. The belief has always been there with us, it's just been about getting the results and hopefully we can start to pick up now.

"From 10th place to the bottom, it's still very tight. With seven or eight games to go, there are a lot of things that can happen still and a lot of teams that can get sucked into it.

"A couple of wins on the bounce, it puts pressure on the other teams, so hopefully we will use the confidence from the games that we have just won and take that into the next game."

Villa's next match comes at home to Liverpool on March 31.