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BENTEKE WINS PRAISE

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has heaped the praise on striker Christian Benteke after the Belgian international scored two goals in the 4-1 win over Norwich during the weekend. The striker was subjected to much transfer interest in the summer after he scored a spectacular 23 goals in his debut season with the club last season. However, he rejected the opportunity to move to clubs like Chelsea and Tottenham and decided to stay with Villa. He even signed a new five-year contract, which was rumoured to double his wages.

Benteke began the season in extraordinary fashion after scoring five goals in as many games. However, he suffered a hip injury just a few months into the new campaign. Since then, his form nosedived and he went without finding the back of the net for 12 matches. Now, though, he seems to be finding his form once again and the Norwich match showed the best of the striker. He scored two goals in the space of just three minutes to setup this impressive win.

After the match, Lambert praised Benteke to http://www.ftbllr.net by saying that the striker could become a world-class player if he manages to reproduce the form from last season. Tottenham were rumoured to be ready to pay around £ 25 million for the striker, who was signed for just £ 7 million from Genk in the summer of 2012.

“I think if he does over the second half of this season what he did last season then we’re talking about having an absolute world-class player on our hands. This season was always going to be hard for him. He’s only been in Britain for a year and a half, and I think people forget that, and they forget his age as well. He’s got the ability to be a top, top player,” said Lambert.

HOLT IS NEXT

Aston Villa is looking to secure the services of the veteran English striker Grant Holt who is currently a contracted player of Wigan Athletic.

Lambert has worked with the 32 years old striker before as well and he reckons that his experience can help Aston Villa to finish the ongoing season on a high.

Villa’s performance in the 2013-14 Season hasn’t been too bad. Yes, of late, their game has dipped down a bit and they have suffered some defeats, but, still, their position in the league table is quite respectable.

As far as Holt’s recent form is concerned, he made his way to Wigan during summer after leaving Norwich City and has done a reasonable job for his new club. He has got the opportunity to feature in 16 championship matches for the Latics so far and he has scored 2 goals in those games.

Villa’s strikers including their superstar Christian Benteke have been out of form in the recent past and that’s one of the reasons why there has been a dip in their performances. Although Benteke found the net against Arsenal a couple of days back, but, he looked far from his best. So, they clearly need the arrival of an in form forward.

In one of his interviews yesterday, when Lambert was asked about his interests in Holt, he said, “We have worked together in the past. Grant is a fantastic bloke. I have seen reports of him coming here. That’s definitely a possibility, but, there is nothing concrete at the moment.”

When asked about Christian Benteke finding himself amongst the goals again, Lambert said, “It was nice to see him scoring again. If he gets back to top form, it would be a big positive for us.”

BENTEKE RULED OUT

During Belgium’s friendly match against Colombia, Christian Benteke picked up a knee injury that saw him leaving the playing ground on November 14th which forced him to be absent during his national team’s friendly encounter against Japan and still not certain if he will be available to play in Aston Villa’s upcoming Premier League match against West Bromwich.

Although the medical staff of Belgium did however notify Paul Lambert and said that the injury is not as bad as initially suspected and Benteke is expected to make a full recovery just in time for the Premier League.

Taking into consideration that Christian Benteke is Aston Villa’s main goal-scoring player it will be a big blow if they have to cope without him in such important matches of the league.

Last season Aston Villa’s Andreas Weimann managed to scored 7 goals for his club while in this new season he is going through a dry run after only finding the back of the net in 1 occasion out of 10 appearances.

Even failing to make any kind of impact for his national team after 3 World Cup matches for Austria but he did say that the only thing he needs to boost his performances is 1 goal and from there on out everything changes.

“If I get one goal, I feel I can go on a run. I certainly have that mindset. It can set you off. Your confidence starts to rise and you feel you can’t miss.”

“I will start scoring soon. I know it. I am not worried. I am getting in the right positions.”

So far in this season Aston Villa has conceded 12 goals and scored 11 goals, so it would be very appreciated if Weimann can boost their tally of goals and get into higher spots of the Premier League.

BENTEKE RULED OUT

Aston Villa have been dealt a blow with the news that striker Christian Benteke will miss the next few weeks due to an injury. The Belgian international suffered a hip injury during the 1-0 win over Norwich. This victory helped bring a run of three consecutive defeats for the team, while also helping them move closer to the top half of the table. Benteke is currently the top scorer in the division with four goals to his name already. Aston Villa went to great lengths to keep him at the club after he handed in a transfer request in the summer.

Manager Paul Lambert, though, has said that he is quite satisfied with the news that Benteke has always injury at the stage where the next two seasons will be dedicated to international matches. This means that the injury blow will be softened a lot for the team. Villa have a number of players on the injury table and the sooner they get Benteke back from this layoff will be better for Lambert and his men. The likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor, Gary Gardner, Charles N’Zogbia and Ashley Westwood for on the sidelines for the club, which narrowly avoided relegation last season.

Villa will be hoping for a much better campaign where they could finish in the top half this season.

“It’s not as bad as we feared it was going to be. It’s maybe four, five, six weeks or so. You have that international break which certainly helps us. But he’s feeling a lot better to be fair. We will have to wait and see. We spoke to the medical people before and they give the best and worst case scenarios. You are never quite sure until you hear from the professor to find out how it is,” said Lambert.