Troubled Ipswich Town boss George Burley is refusing to hit the panic button - even though his troops go into their duel at Aston Villa five points adrift at the foot of the Premiership.

Instead, Burley, who refuses to set a points target for survival, insisted: "Three or four wins can lift us up the table and I'm confident of achieving that.

"I have no fears we can win four or five games out of six or seven.

"Villa brought in a number of very good players during the summer but we need to go there and work hard to collect the points. Against Middlesbrough, Arsenal and Newcastle we played well and the managers of each were complimentary.

"Now we need to start turning performances into wins.

"Last season 35-36 points was enough to stay up, but who knows what it'll be this time. Even so, I'm confident we can achieve whatever it takes to stay in the Premiership."

Burley reported that John McGreal (calf) and Jamie Clapham (knee) are injury doubts for tonight's game after suffering knocks.

Martijn Reuser played and scored for the reserves last week so may be recalled, although his groin was sore afterwards.

Jim Magilton and Pablo Counago came through the same match unscathed so might also return to the fray.

Published Monday December 17, 2001