Martin O’Neill has told Nicky Shorey, disgruntled at his lack of first-team opportunities since joining Aston Villa, to get his head down and prove that he has the character to win his place. The left back has been linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur after failing to establish himself at Villa since joining from Reading for £3 million last summer.

Villa host West Bromwich Albion today, with Luke Young, the right back, who joined at the same time as Shorey, again likely to be preferred on the left side of defence. With Carlos Cuéllar and Martin Laursen back in contention after short-term injuries, and Wilfred Bouma on the way back from the dislocated ankle injury he suffered in July, Shorey is on the outside looking in.

“Players want to play every week and it’s been a difficult start for him,” O’Neill, the Vlla manager, said. “But while I’ll monitor every single situation, I’d prefer to strengthen the squad rather than let people go. People can come to a football club and they can have a few downturns but you have to try to fight back.

“Stiliyan Petrov would be the best case in point here. He has been as consistent as anyone for us this season and he is vindicating the faith I had in him. I don’t just bring people to the football club for the sake of it. You have to battle to get into the side.

“Look at Luke Young. He came here and it took a while for him to get into the swing of things, but he’s battled back and now he’s playing at left back as if he’d done it all his life and he’s done brilliantly for us.”

Steve Sidwell, a team-mate of Shorey in Steve Coppell’s successful Reading side, had to bide his time when he joined Villa for £5 million from Chelsea last summer. Having to sit on the substitutes’ bench for much of his single season at Stamford Bridge, a succession of injuries delayed him making an impact at Villa in the autumn. But now that he has established himself alongside Petrov and Gareth Barry in the heart of O’Neill’s midfield, he is proving his pedigree. “If doors get shut in my face, I try to find a way round them,” he said.