Aston Villa’s start to the season just gets better

Belgium international striker Christian Benteke has returned to training with Villa

Aston Villa have made a superb start to their Premier League campaign and have now received an extra bit of good news with the return to training of star striker Christian Benteke.

The striker ruptured his Achilles tendon in April, but yesterday returned to training.

Delighted

Villa boss Paul Lambert has praised his teams medical staff telling Villa’s official website: “I’m delighted with the efforts of the medical team here at Villa for working incredibly hard with Christian to get him back to fitness so quickly.

“Christian trained today, though it was a light session. Hopefully, with no effects from that, he’ll train again tomorrow with the group.

“Obviously, we’ll be monitoring his fitness and we’ll continue to build him up towards a return to the team.”

Start

Villa currently sits second place in the Premier League table, having taken ten points from a possible 12. Only Chelsea has a better record than Villa in the top-flight so far this season. It is a surprising start for the Villans, as there seemed to be lots of pessimism during pre-season due to their seemingly underwhelming transfer business.

However Villa has surprised everybody with their performances so far this season, with the much-maligned Philippe Senderos at the centre of that good start to the campaign.

The former-Arsenal and Fulham centre-back has been at the heart of a Villa defence that has kept three clean sheets from four top-flight games and conceded just one goal in the Premier League this season.

Underwhelming

Paul Lambert had to cut his cloth according this summer in the transfer market. The Scot was never going to be able to spend a fortune on players. The likes Aly Cissokho, Kieran Richardson, Philippe Senderos and Tom Cleverley arrived for small fees or no fees in Cleverley and Senderos’ cases.

The former-Norwich boss was never going to be able to bring in top quality players on a small budget, so recruited experienced Premier League players in Senderos and Richardson who he knew would give their all.

He also gave opportunities to Cissokho and Cleverley to prove themselves in the Premier League. Cissokho spent last season on-loan at Liverpool from Lyon, but did not do enough to convince Reds boss Brendan Rodgers that he was good enough to keep permanently.

Tom Cleverley was one of the most criticised Premier League players of last season, as he struggled in the heart of the Manchester United midfield. The midfielder will be hoping that the move to Villa will give him a chance to revive his career.

Boost

The return of Christian Benteke is a major boost and on top of their start to the season it is looking look bright for Villa at the moment. On his day Benteke is one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League.

The 23-year-old is touted as a major star of the future and prior to his injury was being heavily linked with a move to Arsenal.

Benteke is a striker that has all the attributes to be a world-class striker and at just 23 has time to develop those attributes. If he can recover fully from his injury then he is likely to be prolific for Villa this season.

Testing

Villa have a tough run of games coming up with consecutive games against four out of last season’s top five. The Villans fixture list looked even tougher prior to their surprise 1-0 win at last season’s Premier League runners-up Liverpool last season.

Lambert’s side came through that test, but games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton are likely to be just as tough, if not tougher.

Villa fans will find out a lot about their team in the next four games. If they can keep picking-up points in those tough encounters then it will be encouraging.

Optimism

Villa’s start to the season must be encouraging to everybody connected with the club. The return of Benteke from injury can only add to their optimism for the season ahead.

The doom and gloom that was predicted by some for the Villans seems to have temporarily dispersed and has been replaced by quite confidence, which will be a relief to Paul Lambert and his players.

Whar are realistic ambitions for Villa this season?