Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish is confident that the club can put a stop to their poor form and avoid being dragged into a relegation battle.

Villa have won just one of their last eight games and are now only five points clear of the Premier League bottom three.

McLeish is aware of the financial implications that relegation would bring and believes that this can act as motivation in their fight against the drop.

"Has Randy Lerner mentioned relegation to you? I think we could all do without it. It doesn't bear thinking about financially so that's why I believe that we'll stay up," said McLeish.

"We've got big challenges in the next eight games but I believe we have enough in us to get points.

"We'll try to win as many as we can. Would I take 15th spot now? Probably, absolutely."

Aston Villa travel to Anfield to face Liverpool this afternoon.