Paul Lambert has hailed Gabby Agbonlahor’s renewed enthusiasm for the game as a reason why he will be a huge factor in Villa’s run in.

Agbonlahor let his head go down when he went through a barren spell at the end of last season and the start of the new campaign, but he is buzzing again after bagging four times since January.

Lambert said: “I think he has been excellent.

“I think he’s loving his football at the minute, is scoring quite regularly at the moment and when Gabby gets a run at you, there are not many people going to catch him.”

Lambert is not short of pacy options up front, although Darren Bent remains out of the frame for whatever reason at the moment, and the Villa boss highlighted Agbonlahor as one of the reasons why he remains optimitsic about the club’s chances for the rest of this season and beyond.

“He is playing extremely well at the minute and if we can keep him, Charles N’Zogbia, Christian Benteke and Andreas Weimann fit, we’ve got loads of options up front,” he added.

“The one thing that was lacking in his game was goals. His stats from that point of view up to the West Brom game weren’t great.

“But what he does bring is genuine pace to the game and a threat. He has added goals and that’s why he is enjoying it. He looks sharp in training.”

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