Martin O’Neill uses the phrase “top four” to refer to the Barclays Premier League’s usual Champions League suspects, but this could be the first season in a while when “top four” and “big four” are not the same thing. Not only are Aston Villa third, they ended Saturday’s game with eight English players, a rarity to please the watching England manager.

“I am really delighted and I think the chairman is, too, that we’ve got so many English players playing for us and doing great,” O’Neill said. “If they are not in the forethoughts of Fabio Capello, they’re in the back of his mind.”

O’Neill envisages a club-and-country relationship that could be mutually beneficial rather than estranged, as so often elsewhere. “With England playing so well, it’s going to be hard for the the younger boys here to come in,” he said. “I’ve told them to spend the next 18 months trying to be on that plane to South Africa.”

It helped the visiting team that West Ham’s two best chances fell to Carlton Cole, one of those tall centre forwards who seems to become shorter when he jumps. With Dean Ashton not close to a return from injury and Craig Bellamy spending much of his time on the flanks, the burden of goalscoring weighs on Cole’s shoulders like an obese elephant. He has only three goals this season — but that still makes him the club’s top scorer.

As a player, Gianfranco Zola could find the net from anywhere, so it is not surprising that the West Ham manager was left frustrated. “I’m going to be working on \ finishing every single day from now on until he’s fed up with it,” he said.

With 12 minutes left, a cross by James Milner deflected off Lucas Neill and looped with cruel inevitability into the far corner to settle an even contest, with Villa creating the better chances, but West Ham exerting more pressure. The final whistle signalled that it’s time to start describing West Ham as “too good to go down”.

West Ham United (4-4-2): R Green 7 — L Neill 6, C Davenport 6, M Upson 7, H Ilunga 7 — V Behrami 6 (sub: L Bowyer, 57min 6), M Noble 7, S Parker 5 (sub: H Mullins, 46 6), J Collison 7 (sub: D Tristán, 84) — C Bellamy 8, C Cole 4. Substitutes not used: J Lastuvka, L Boa Morte, J Faubert, D Di Michele. Booked: Neill. Next: Portsmouth (a).

Aston Villa (4-5-1): B Friedel 9 — C Cuéllar 7 (sub: N Reo-Coker, 58 6), C Davies 7, M Laursen 7, L Young 5 — J Milner 6, S Sidwell 6, S Petrov 5, G Barry 6, A Young 6 — G Agbonlahor 6. Substitutes not used: B Guzan, M Harewood, N Delfouneso, Z Knight, N Shorey, C Gardner. Next: Arsenal (h).

Referee: M Halsey Attendance: 31,353