Martin O’Neill believes Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry is in the best form of his career ahead of England’s World Cup qualifiers with Kazakhstan and Belarus.

The Villa manager has praised Barry for not suffering a hangover after his dreams of making a summer move to Liverpool were shattered when they were unable to meet the asking price of £18m.

He played a key part in Villa’s flying start to the season in the Barclays Premier League which was halted by Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at on-song Chelsea.

The 27-year-old is given more licence to attack with Villa while he is often employed in a deeper, holding position for his country, but O’Neill is confident he can cope with both roles.

O’Neill said: “Gareth, to his great credit, has put aside the disappointment of not joining Liverpool during the last transfer window.”He has put his head down and my view is that Gareth is now actually playing better than ever.

“Gareth gets more freedom with us than with England. Stiliyan Petrov is the one who does the holding for Villa which allows Gareth to go forward.”

O’Neill also believes Barry will be refreshed for the two qualifiers after he was rested for the midweek UEFA Cup tie with Litex Lovech before returning to action at Chelsea.

He said: “Gareth had played a lot of games, including the two internationals before we had a spell of seven matches in 21 days.

“I rested him in midweek for the UEFA Cup game because I thought he could do with a break and I think England might benefit.”