Lambert pleased with Agbonlahor impact

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has hailed Gabriel Agbonlahor’s impact after his side’s 0-0 stalemate with Sunderland on Saturday.

The forward made his return from an ankle injury as a second-half substitute in Villa’s 2-2 draw at West Brom last Monday, and was deemed fit enough to play the full 90 minutes against Gustavo Poyet’s strugglers.

Agbonlahor showed no ill-effects throughout the match at Villa Park and, although he was unable to score, Lambert still felt he was his team’s main attacking threat.

“Gabby’s done very little, he’s only trained on Friday after being out a long time and we threw him in quicker than we thought we had to on Monday,” the Scot said.

“90 minutes against Sunderland will do him the world of good. I thought he was the one that looked very good.”

Lambert also took the opportunity to give Marc Albrighton a run out after recalling the winger from a loan spell at Wigan Athletic, and the former Norwich City boss saw promise in his performance.

“Marc has been unfortunate with injuries and I let him go to Wigan to get some games and I think he’s done really well up there,” he added.

“I thought he deserved to be back in the squad and he looked alright when he came on that’s for sure.

“He needs a little run of not being injured, he can certainly cross a ball that’s for sure, he just needs that little break where he can sustain it and see how he does.”