Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill believes Gareth Barry will give his all when Liverpool visit Villa Park on Sunday.

Barry took another step nearer to regaining full sharpness and fitness by playing 90 minutes at left-back in Thursday's UEFA Cup clash with Icelandic part-timers Hafnarfjordur at Villa Park.

He was desperate to join the Reds and secure Champions League football only for the deal to collapse after Liverpool failed to meet Villa's US$36million valuation of the 27-year-old.

Now Barry will look to help Villa come out on top and lay down a marker for their ambitions to break into the so-called 'big four' this season.

O'Neill said: "I am delighted Gareth is staying. It is a situation that three weeks ago I couldn't have envisaged.

"In my mind I thought he would go. It is great that it didn't materialise, a big lift for us all.

"You know the old cliche, 'it's like having a new player', and actually in many aspects it is like that. I really am ecstatic and so are the dressing room.

"Gareth has a pretty good chance of starting on Sunday. I would say there was a pretty good chance of that happening."

Villa were held to a 1-1 draw despite going ahead through Craig Gardner but had effectively sewn up the tie with a 4-1 success in the first leg.

It means they will go into Friday's draw for the first round proper of the UEFA Cup for the first time in seven years.

O'Neill said: "It was a job done. I think it was exactly that.

"I was hoping we would pick up the tempo of the game and sustain it for longer than we did but, after scoring four goals in Iceland and making a few changes, we got through and that is what counts.

"We have won okay in the end and to have 25,000 turning out, especially with the game live on television, I thought was fantastic. I was staggered.

"We are in the hat now which is great. The secretary can actually book the flight to go over for the draw and it is great.

"It is still another two-legged affair but it would be great to then get through to the group stages."

O'Neill would dearly like to help Villa achieve a decent UEFA Cup run, in a competition in which he reached the final during his time with Celtic.

But he is aware of the need to bring in another couple of players to bolster the squad for what could be a lengthy campaign.

He said: "It would be great if we can sustain the progress in the Premier League. That is naturally so important but why not have a crack in Europe?

"If we can, between now and Monday evening, get a couple of people in, which we have been trying furiously to do, then it would give us all a lift and maybe sustain us for the months ahead.

"Generally speaking we are trying to strengthen our side. We are really battling to achieve that."