Gareth Barry is determined to prove the critics wrong as people continue to write off Aston Villa's chances of a top-four finish.
A Lucas Neill own goal in the 78th minute following a James Milner cross-shot handed Villa all three points against West Ham on Saturday.
The win saw the club move into third place in the Premier League ahead of Manchester United, who missed the weekend's fixtures due to their participation in the Club World Cup in Japan.
Despite their league standing, with only Liverpool and Chelsea above them in the table, many people continue to question the credentials of Martin O'Neill's side.
"It is a confidence booster seeing ourselves above Manchester United," Barry told the Birmingham Mail.
"We have played two games more but it is good to see us sitting above them at this stage of the season. We are halfway now and that is a great sign.
"It puts a bit of pressure on teams below you if you do keep winning. We have won back to back away games and we now we have this big game on Boxing Day (against Arsenal) which hopefully can set us up for the New Year.
"The critics can keep saying we are not there on merit. But if we can stay there until April then people will start changing their mind.
"We don't mind not being taken seriously, it takes the pressure off. We will probably keep talking that way ourselves, at least in public anyway.
"It is alright starting well and then dropping away but here we are, halfway through a season and that shows the massive effort put in so far."
Villa have the chance to cement their place in the top three when they welcome rivals Arsenal to Villa Park on Boxing Day.
The 27-year-old was just a teenager the last time Villa went into a Boxing Day fixture in third place.
Then, under the management of John Gregory, Villa faded away in the second half of the season but Barry is adamant that will not happen this time around.
"We started unbelievably well but fell away. It is a different feeling now because we have picked up our form over the last six games and gone shooting up the table. Hopefully we can keep it going," he added.
"It was a fantastic win (at West Ham). We battled well out there. We have to give credit to West Ham because they played very well in the second half.
"Brad Friedel pulled off a few great saves and kept us right in it. We had to dig in. A lot of the lads felt tired in that second half and probably came off the pitch feeling they had not done too well.
"But if you are going to achieve things you need that bit of luck throughout the season and we came off the pitch knowing that we had fought hard but not played to our best.
"It was as big as any three points this season. Everyone is buzzing with the three points. That is always the main thing."
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