ASTON Villa's fifth successive league defeat in the 2-1 setback against Leeds last night means they have collected only seven points from the last 33 and dreams of qualifying for Europe via the Premiership are fast becoming unrealistic.

But Villa manager John Gregory, whose side face a massive FA Cup clash with Leicester City on Saturday, is still upbeat.

He said: "We have to stick together. The players need only look at their displays in the last few weeks with the exception of the Liverpool game.

"The performances have been very positive and it's been hard to be critical of the players.

"We will all stick together. We've always been very strong as a group. We've been down this path a couple of times before and we've managed to come through it."

Second-half goals from Lee Bowyer and Ian Harte enabled Leeds to overcome another fine display from Villa's goalscorer Paul Merson in front of England coach Sven- Goran Eriksson.