Vladimir Smicer described Slavia Prague's UEFA Cup meeting with Aston Villa on Thursday as a "present".

But the former Liverpool midfielder is planning to be anything but charitable.

Slavia open their Group F campaign by hosting Villa at their brand new Eden Stadion knowing they are underdogs both in the match and in terms of progressing to the latter stages.

Villa, Ajax and Hamburg are favourites to advance, with Slavia and Slovakians Zilina expected to miss out.

But the Czech side, who lost to Fiorentina in qualifying for the Champions League, are top of the Gambrinus Liga and unbeaten in eight matches at their new home.

Smicer said: "We played a big game against Fiorentina, a Champions League qualifier, but we know it's a tough group for us.

"Hamburg, Ajax, Aston Villa, they are really good teams and everybody expects those three to go through, but we'll see after tomorrow.

"It's a really good chance for us. We know they are a really good team but we are playing at home and we would like to make a good game and have a good result.

"It's a really good test for us and for us it's like a present playing against them."

Monday night's defeat to Newcastle brought to an end Villa's good run of form but O'Neill insisted tiredness would not be an issue in Thursday's clash.

However, he confirmed he would make changes to the side that faced the Magpies as they look to build on their opening win over Ajax a fortnight ago.

O'Neill said: "I think that (tiredness) would be a pretty lame excuse to throw in at this stage. We've played the game on Monday night, that's the way it fell.

"We were lucky in many aspects to get a week to prepare ourselves - you wouldn't have told that by our second-half performance - but this is what we're here for.

"We've qualified for the UEFA Cup, we know most of the games are going to be played on Thursday evenings, so you get yourself ready for it."

O'Neill will definitely make two changes with James Milner struggling with injury and Marlon Harewood having stayed at home to be at the birth of his child on Tuesday night. Stiliyan Petrov is also still missing with a hamstring injury.

"In terms of Stiliyan Petrov, he missed the game on Monday and I thought he was missed by us, and James has had an injury," said O'Neill.

"I know James would really wanted to have played but there's a risk if he played tomorrow he misses Sunday (against Middlesbrough).

"I thought the best thing would be to get himself right and with Marlon, it's just one of those things.