Martin O'Neill believes Everton will come to terms with the loss of star defender Joleon Lescott in the same way as Aston Villa recovered from the retirement of skipper and centre-back Martin Laursen.

The Toffees have made a stuttering start to the current campaign following Lescott's departure to Manchester City in a £24 million move, after edging out Villa and finishing fifth in the Barclays Premier League last season.

Villa also struggled to cope after Laursen was ruled out of the second half of last season with a knee injury before hanging up his boots, until they replaced him with Richard Dunne and James Collins two months ago.

O'Neill is a big admirer of Saturday's opponents and expects them to be challenging them again for a European spot by the time the season reaches its climax.

The former Celtic boss said: "It's been a really tough start for them. They were involved in the UEFA Cup and the last thing you want to do is have upheaval (with Lescott) particularly at that stage of the season.

"But I would say that they have shown a great resilience in the last couple of seasons.

"I thought by their own standards last season they got off to a stodgy start and I don't think that they could win at home for a while.

"But they fought back and ended up finishing fifth in the league and reaching the FA Cup final.

"I've got empathy for the situation (with Lescott) but I wouldn't start feeling too sorry for them and they will be up there challenging again.

"Yes, it is a stodgy period for them but my view is that, if any side is capable of pulling out of it, outside the top four, it is Everton."

O'Neill added: "You have to get over the loss of players. We've lost Gareth Barry and Martin Laursen. It's been mentioned that losing Laursen is comparable to losing Lescott and they're definite losses.

"But once they're gone, you've got to get over it - although I would say Laursen's loss to us in the latter half of the season was particularly damaging."

Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor will look to continue the hot streak of form which has brought him six goals in the last eight games.

But O'Neill is demanding a greater scoring contribution from his midfield players.

He said: "I think if you are going to be successful you have to have a goal-scoring midfield. You would have to be exceptionally lucky to go through and not have someone scoring from midfield and yet still be really successful.

"There are more goals in this team and in terms of goals scored in matches at moment, it is not up there, so we should be sharing goals around more.

"We should be getting more from midfield. That is something we haven't really had here. In my time here Gareth Barry scored, although lot of his were penalty kicks.

"It is vitally important that you have a goalscoring midfield."

O'Neill has pledged to rotate his squad on a more regular basis this season but admits it is easier for a player to be on the substitute's bench at a club like Manchester United, who are accustomed to success, than at Villa.

He said: "When you are on the bench at a team Manchester United then you are experiencing some sort of success. You are part of a successful set-up and in some way, you are sharing in that.

"This is a different issue to someone being on the bench at a team like ourselves who are striving but haven't got the same success.

"For a quality player it might be easier to have reflected glory on the bench from being part of a squad like at Man United or Chelsea than it would be from being on the bench here.

"I always say when Manchester United change the team it is called rotation. When we change the team, it is called leaving a player out!"

Villa keeper Brad Friedel is poised to make his 200th successive Barclays Premier League performance against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Friedel is likely to replace fellow American Brad Guzan, even though the latter made three penalty shoot-out saves in the midweek Carling Cup win over Sunderland.

Defender Stephen Warnock is battling to overcome an ankle injury suffered against the Black Cats.