Aston Villa's Matt Lowton ready for home comforts
Matt Lowton today warned Sunderland that Villa are finally ready to fire at home.
The right-back insisted the claret and blues are set to make Villa Park a harder place to visit – starting with the Black Cats on Saturday.
The 6-1 demolition of Sunderland last season was the springboard for Villa to seal their survival.
They are unbeaten in three games after their derby comeback against Albion on Monday and Lowton believes they can banish any fears of a pre-Christmas slump.
"I don't think you can expect to beat a team 6-1, but with the result here the other day (2-0 against Cardiff) we need to start picking up results at home," he said.
"The start we've had has been great; we've got great players and we'll give them a good game.
"With a lot of winnable games coming up, I'm sure we can start to kick on. We did well to stay up last season – we fought hard and never gave in.
"The gaffer has brought in more quality players and we've played a lot of the top teams and we're mid-table."
Christian Benteke's hat-trick inspired Villa to victory over Sunderland last April with Lowton also excelling as he teed Andi Weimann up to score.
He said: "Everything went right that night. The fans were unbelievable, we played good football and scored good goals."