SAM Allardyce talked today of the difficulty of bringing his derby heroes down off cloud nine.

"Apparently no team has won their next Premiership game after winning at Manchester United," the Wanderers' boss pointed out ominously on the eve of the trip to Villa Park.

"I don't know if the statistic is true but it came from a good source so I've been getting that into the players' heads to make them realise that our next game is as big a challenge as it was to beat United.

"It will have to be equally as good a performance as we had at Old Trafford to get something out of Villa."

Allardyce is too proud of last Saturday's triumph - Wanderers were the first team to come from behind to beat United on their own patch in a Premiership game - to minimise the achievement but he does admit it was an opportune time to catch the champions.

"Falling between Deportivo La Coruna and Olympiakos in the Champions League made it the right time for us to play Manchester United," he acknowledged.

"We were not their biggest concern but tomorrow Villa have a chance to go top ..!

"Nevertheless, to go and do what we did at Old Trafford could prove the turning point of our season. Now, if they want it, the players have got to take it on from there.

"They have to take this huge result - the shock result in the whole Premiership - and maintain the standards they set with their performance."

Wanderers meet a Villa side brimming with confidence and with higher expectations than at any time in recent years. That, Allardyce believes, is down to some bold decisions by John Gregory, who has completely reshaped his squad and changed his system by some radical wheeling and dealing in the transfer market.

"John's decisons have been very brave but they have paid off handsomely," he said, praising the Villa boss. "He not only sold two of his centre-backs - Ugo Ehiogu and Gareth Southgate - but he also sold his goalkeeper (David James) and used that funding to restructure his side.

"He's also got them playing a 4-4-2 rather than that 3-5-2 they played for many a season and that was a major step. He must be delighted.

"He has spent the money wisely on Kachloul and Hadji and the performances of Mellberg and Alpay and obviously Schmeichel have made them just as resilient as they used to be and with a lot more attacking flair."