Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov has backed striker Emile Heskey to prove the doubters wrong and show his England form next season.

Since being reunited with Martin O’Neill at Villa Park, the forward has struggled to reproduce the form which saw Liverpool pay Leicester £11million for his signature in 2000.

The 31-year-old has scored just twice in his 14 appearances since arriving from Wigan for £3.5million in January, but continues to be a prominent figure at international level under Fabio Capello, netting in the recent 4-0 win over Kazakhstan.

Player of the Year Petrov sympathises with Heskey after making a slow start to his own Villa career – but insists it is only a matter of time before the forward proves his quality.

The Bulgarian said: “Emile is an outstanding player,. He is an England regular so that proves just how good a player he is. He has added further quality to the squad.

“Sometimes players just need a bit longer to settle in.”

The jury also remains out on £12million pair Carlos Cuellar and Nicky Shorey, who arrived last summer, but Petrov has called for supporters to give the defensive duo time to deliver.

He said: “Fans want to win things, they want to win all the time. That’s normal.

“It can take a long time, because when fans make their minds up about someone it takes longer than just one good thing to change their opinions.

“If you can keep your consistency for longer they will start to noticing things. We have no doubts Nicky and Carlos will get better in the next few years.”