Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill says the Premiership is stronger than ever before.

O'Neill admits concerns over Villa's prospects of consistently competing for the European places.

"The general view now is that the league has weakened because Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have lost more games this season than they would have done in previous years," O'Neill said.

"But I tend to think it's got stronger because Manchester City, even if they don't make the Champions League - and this was a big step in that direction for them - will get stronger again. To keep up with them is going to be hard. I knew that at the start of the season and next year it will be the same again.

"They have been in the shadow for quite a number of years and if they thought the Champions League meant attracting another three world-class players to this club, if you've got the wherewithal to do it then why shouldn't you? The overall picture of where that puts you might be a different issue for all to discuss.

"If City got very, very strong and won the Champions League for the next two to three years, people would be delighted, but for clubs like Aston Villa, it would be a problem for us. I can only look at it from my viewpoint and that is very different from the viewpoint of Man City supporters."