Ollie Eyes Henry Shut-Out

Olof Mellberg believes Villa can succeed where Italian giants Roma failed earlier this week ˇV if they can find a way to keep Thierry Henry under-wraps.

The French ace, who grabbed a hat-trick on Tuesday night, scored twice as Villa surrendered a 2-0 half-time lead to lose 3-2 at Highbury last season.

And, not surprisingly, Mellberg has singled him out as the biggest threat to Villaˇ¦s recent sig-game unbeaten run.

He commented: "I first played against him for the under-21s many years ago when he scored with a header in France. He was very quick, fast and good in the air but he has improved a lot since then in terms of his technical ability and his finishing in front of goal.

"With the goals he scores he's obviously one of the big stars in the game. If he isn't the best in the Premiership then he is definitely one of the best- and has been for the last couple of years. He has been very consistent.

"It will be very, very difficult. We have to defend and attack as a team and leave no spaces, especially behind.

"We have fast players in our defence, but when he's in the sort of form that he's in now, no one can catch him, so we have to be compact and very tight.ˇ¨

Looking back to last termˇ¦s 3-2 defeat, Mellberg added: "It's about being alert all the time, for the full 90 minutes. As they showed then, if they get an opportunity they'll take it. They win the ball and get behind us immediately. "There's no doubt Arsenal away is one of the toughest games of the season. It will be hard but the way we have been playing suggests we definitely have a good chance. "There is not a big difference between most teams this season. Arsenal have lost at home to the likes of Blackburn which shows anyone can beat anyone else."