After an encouraging start last season, Villa suffered a disappointing fade-out that saw Martin O'Neill's men miss out on a Champions League place.

This time around they have again impressed, but lost both their matches during the festive season against Arsenal and Liverpool to drop out of the top four of the Barclays Premier League.

But despite those defeats, Young is adamant Villa will avoid a repeat of last season's struggles.

He said: "Do I sense a stronger mentality this season? Definitely. We've brought some big characters in like Richard Dunne and Stephen Warnock - and Stewart Downing is a great player as well."

He added: "We are better equipped this year. We've got more options if you like and everyone knows they've got to be on their toes to stay in the side.

"We've got an extra year's experience. It all came very soon to us last season. We were learning along the way and we are determined that bad run we had won't happen again."