Paul Lambert hoping return of Christian Benteke can fire Aston Villa up the table
Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert is counting on the return of Christian Benteke to give his side a much-needed boost for Tuesday's Premier League trip to Crystal Palace.
Benteke is available after serving a three-match ban for his red card against Tottenham last month - which came in only his fourth appearance of the season after missing the early weeks with an Achilles injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.
Villa have scored just seven goals in 13 league games this term, with Joe Cole's goal in Saturday's draw with Burnley making him only Villa's third goalscorer of the season - statistics that have left Lambert desperate for Benteke to shine.
"In my own opinion, when he's on his game I think he's one of the best in Europe, let alone in Britain. I've seen some brilliant strikers in my time and, when that guy's on his game, he's certainly up there. So that's a massive boost to us," he said.
"I think his performance against Spurs indicated that he was getting back (to full match-fitness). He's still going to be match-fitness down because he didn't play for a number of months, but against Spurs I thought he was fantastic for us.
"He's a top player and if he keeps progressing the way he's going then we'll see where his career goes."
Lambert will need to reshuffle his side to accommodate the Belgian, but he is happy with the options at his disposal.
"I've got options all over the place. Gabby (Agbonlahor) can play wide, he can play in behind. There's loads of places I can play him," he added.
"But I think Christian coming back gives us that option of putting him back into it."