Olly: Now For Three Points

Olof Mellberg aims to complete a dream double this afternoon ¡V adding three vital Premiership points to a midweek international victory against Hungary.

The Villa skipper helped Sweden get their Euro 2004 campaign back on track with a 2-1 win in Budapest, as Marcus Allback grabbed both goals.

Now Mellberg is determined to ease any lingering threat of relegation by leading Villa to victory against Arsene Wenger¡¦s Premiership leaders.

He said: ¡§It¡¦s great to win with my national team, but this is what¡¦s really important. We really need to win some games now.

¡§We have performed well in the last couple of games, but one point from six is not enough. We need three points today.

¡§It is a big test when you face Arsenal, but hopefully we will be ready for that test and we can get the win we need.¡¨

Another player returning from international duty ready for the challenge is on-song midfielder Gareth Barry.

The England Under-21 skipper was again impressive as David Platt¡¦s men drew 1-1 with Turkey on Tuesday night ¡V erasing memories of his own-goal in Portugal last week.

Now he aims to continue that form and reflected: ¡§I played both games for the Under-21s at left midfield and it was nice to see if I could play at international level in that position.

¡§It¡¦s nice to come back to a big game ¡V especially the league leaders. They¡¦re the best team around at the moment and we¡¦re looking forward to it.¡¨