Villa began the campaign in impressive style with a 4-2 home win over Manchester City, courtesy of a Gabriel Agbonlahor hat-trick, but were then beaten 3-2 by newcomers Stoke City on Saturday.

They will look to bounce back against Liverpool at Villa Park on Sunday, after Thursday's second leg of their UEFA Cup tie with Hafnarfjordur, which they approach with a 4-1 lead.

cracked it

Davies said: "Just a week ago everything looked rosy after Gabby's hat-trick. But that's what football can do to you. You can never think you've cracked it.

"It was always going to be hard going to a place like Stoke at this stage of the season but we should have been stronger and we're really disappointed.

"Now we have to put that behind us now because we're going into a big, big week. We've still got new players in the team that are trying to gel.

"We still have work to do all across the pitch but that probably goes for most teams at this stage of the season. We're still a work in progress."