LAMBERT BACK BENTEKE

The Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has described that the summer signing Christian Benteke is a special type of player. The 21-year-old scored in the recent match against Reading to give Aston Villa all three points and also some respite from the immediate threat of relegation.

When the manager Paul Lambert arrived at the club in the summer, he stated that the England international Darren Bent was one of the important members of the squad. He also made the £ 24 million signing his captain, but the former Tottenham striker has rarely featured in recent weeks.

This has led to speculation that the striker has fallen out with the manager. Darren Bent has not been involved in the first team action ever since returning from a shot injury layoff. In his absence, the 21-year-old summer signing Christian Benteke has been played on a regular basis. Even though he has been guilty of missing a number of crucial chances in many matches, he helped the club win the match against Reading by scoring a late goal when the match was looking to finish as a 0-0 draw. As a result of this victory, Aston Villa climb out of the relegation zone into the 17th position.

The recent form of the club has also been good, as they have been able to get two victories in the last five matches. After the Reading match, the manager praised the Belgian striker. "Christian has been excellent. You run out of things to say about the big guy. He has turned himself into a fans' favourite here, that's for sure, and his general game is outstanding at the minute. He has been brilliant for us. I thought the header for the winner against Reading was fantastic," said Lambert. Aston Villa now have 13 points from the 14 matches.