Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill says James Collins is capable of becoming among the Premiership's best defenders.

Collins goes back to West Ham tonight for the first time since his August transfer.

"When you look at James's injury-record, it was an obvious concern," said O'Neill, "but he suffered from some serious ones.

"It was an issue when I saw West Ham at the start of the season. I thought he was a good footballer, a decent player, but there was concern.

"They had a lot of centre-backs at the time - perhaps Gianfranco felt they could let him go. James wasn't fantastically-well known. Perhaps there was a thought that if he wasn't going to be first-choice, maybe there was a case for moving him on.

"James just wanted to play. The conversation went very easily with him. He was going to take this opportunity. He was going to establish himself considering we had Curtis Davies out injured for some time. He has been absolutely terrific. With Richard Dunne having joined us, James came in under that umbrella and I think that helped him settle in.

"He reminds me a lot of Matt Elliott who I signed for Leicester City. We took him from Oxford, people thought he couldn't play but he turned out to be as good as there was. He wasn't that quick - James is quicker - but he could play centre-forward if he wanted to.

"James can play the ball, manoeuvre it, control it and defends as best he can. He has all the attributes. Personally, I think he can become one of the best."