Stewart Downing eyes new Villa run

Stewart Downing wants Villa to put the defeat to Manchester United behind them and recapture the form they showed throughout the majority of January.

The claret and blues recent good form came to an abrupt end at Old Trafford with a 3-1 against the Premier League leaders earlier in midweek.

But they now face a series of winnable games against Fulham, Blackpool and Blackburn over the next month and the Villa winger wants Gerard Houllier's men to cash in.

He said: "We've been on a good run and now we have to put another one together starting with tomorrow's home game against Fulham.

"It will be a tough game because they have signed a couple if players – including Steve Sidwell from us – and they have a good team with some good players.

"It is another home game with our fans behind us and hopefully we can get a win out of it. The Fulham game is massive for us and a win would set us up for another run.

"I don't want to jinx us but we have what could be considered a good run of games coming up so hopefully we can put a run together and get some points up.

"We had a tough fixture list over Christmas so it has been nice to get a couple of wins but we need to carry on and get back up that table where we belong."

The England international is also keen for the Villa players to learn from their meeting with Fulham at Craven Cottage earlier in the season.

Marc Albrighton gave Villa a half-time lead which they held until late into injury time when Brede Hangeland equalised.

He said: "I think we owe Fulham a little bit as away from home we had them dead and buried and they equalised in the last minute. Hopefully this time we will have learned our lesson and put it to bed and win.

"Football is a funny game – they are looking for their first away win and we don't want to be the team that gives it to them.

"We perhaps need to defend a bit better as a team and not give away sloppy goals but, hopefully, we can improve that and get a result on Saturday.

"Nothing is better than winning games and we're disappointed but just have to get back on that run again now."

Fulham midfielder Dickson Etuhu will miss the game after suffering a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury, but new loan signing Eidur Gudjohnsen could figure for the first time.