Express & Star

Tom Heaton confident Aston Villa will quickly find their feet in Premier League

Tom Heaton claims newly-promoted Villa’s desire to improve should help them quickly find their feet in the Premier League.

Published

The England international was one of six new players to make their debut at Tottenham last weekend and found plenty of positives, despite Dean Smith’s men going down to a 3-1 defeat on their top flight return.

Attention has now turned to Saturday’s home opener against Bournemouth, with goalkeeper Heaton confident Villa possess both the attitude and ability to get back on track.

The 33-year-old has comfortably the most Premier League experience of club’s 12 summer signings.

And he said: “I think there is a lot of hunger here. I know there is not a lot of Premier League experience.

“There were moments in Saturday’s game which I am sure we will learn from, key moments and in the Premier League those details count.

“But in terms of ability, the hunger to play at this level, kick on and keep this club in the Premier League and moving up the table, it has been impressive. I am really, really positive for the rest of the season.”

Heaton admits to having been “pleasantly surprised” by the spirit he has found at Villa, since joining in an £8million move from Burnley at the start of the month.

The former Manchester United trainee played four Premier League campaigns with the Clarets.

He said: “Having been at Burnley for so long, I think it is well-known in football how good things are there.

“The dressing room was the unique selling point and the reason the team was always greater than the sum of its parts.

“I wouldn’t say I came here with trepidation, just a sense of the unknown. Since setting foot in the building, I have loved every minute so far.

“There is a real togetherness, even though we have a lot of new players.

“We are building that togetherness and it is a good place to be.”

Villa will be backed by a bumper crowd against the Cherries, having sold a record 30,000 season tickets in anticipation of their top flight return.

Heaton expects Dean Smith’s team to be quickly on the front foot, having been forced to defend for long spells at Spurs.

“We are going back home. That is where we really want to stamp our authority on games,” he said.

“I think we tried on Saturday at times. But that was always going to be a different kind of game. Hopefully we go and start on the front foot and get going then.”