Richard Dunne has declared that Aston Villa have as much of a chance of finishing in the top four as his former club Manchester City.

Dunne clocked in a man-of-the-match performance against City as the battle for Champions League football next season continued.

The Sky Blues could not deal with the strength of their former skipper, who muscled his way to a goal in the first half and almost had another chance to score another in the second period.

"I think in the last 25 minutes it was pretty even and both sides can be happy with the result," he said.

"City are looking to challenge for the top four and to compete with them shows where we are.

"We believe we've got as good a chance as Manchester City and Everton as breaking into the top four and it's up to us to show we can do it."

Dunne immediately struck up a formidable partnership with James Collins, who is also new at Villa Park. Collins insists that the Villans' display against City was just as important as the result.

"We've got to be happy with a point as City are a good team and it shows where we are," stated the former West Ham United defender.

Villa fell to Blackburn Rovers the weekend before and have an international break to regroup before taking on Chelsea when the Premier League resumes.

Collins, however, admitted that he enjoys the big games a little more.

He added: "We look forward to it, tonight was a good test and we'll play against them [Chelsea] and hope that we can give them as good a test as we gave City tonight."