Faith in youth could yet pay off for Aston Villa

Whisper it quietly – but Paul Lambert's Villa are growing up. They have needed to and are still far from certain of having the game-wisdom to crawl their way to safety out of the Premier League basement.

But last week's precious victory at Reading was a triumph for Villa's strength of mind and sense of purpose as much as anything – the first of nine more similar tests before this gruelling campaign is complete.

And none more vital than Saturday's visit from the revivalists of this desperate relegation piece, QPR.

Throughout this troubling season, the general goodwill afforded Lambert and his young squad has been off-set at times by the massive frustrations of the errors and collapses which have aggravated their descent towards danger.

But since one of those anaemic performances brought about a weak home defeat to Newcastle at the start of February, Villa haven't been ...well, quite so bad.

They have lost twice, but to Arsenal at the Emirates and Manchester City at home. No disgrace there.

And, yes, still the maddening individual errors, which continue to be eagerly accepted by some of the best players in the world, have infected their performances.

But they have shown in other displays, against Everton, West Ham and Reading, that their fortitude and tenacity are strengthening to at last supplement the match-winning acts they so clearly possess up front.

These qualities must combine again as another nerve-jangling 'six pointer' heads their way this weekend.

Villa's 2-1 win at the Madejski Stadium ushered one of their relegation rival towards crisis as Reading responded to what many now view as a hopeless fate by sacking manager Brian McDermott.

On Saturday, they can bring the same sense of panic to Queens Park Rangers, who are not going to be dispensing with Harry Redknapp at any foreseeable point in the future.

But should Lambert's side put down a revival that has been a long time coming at the bottom club, the after-shocks could be a major bonus for Villa.

Rangers have adopted a policy of reckless spending which runs in direct conflict with the strategy Villa owner Randy Lerner has adopted since the end of the Martin O'Neill regime.

QPR's accounts last week revealed that their wages-to-turnover ratio was 91 per cent – for every £100 the club takes in, £91 goes on wages.

And that's a percentage which is certain to have increased in the 10 months since those figures were presented to the club auditors as Park Ji-Sung, Julio Cesar, Esteban Granero, Jose Bosingwa and Stephane Mbia were ushered in last summer before Loic Remy and Christopher Samba joined in January.

It is scary stuff not even the substantial wealth of owner Tony Fernandes can off-set. In short, the impact of relegation at Rangers would be horrific and a defeat to Villa would seriously damage their conviction.

This plight, however, has bred the kind of dressing room bravura that Redknapp is a past master at exploiting.

Like a condemned man who has found a file smuggled away in his last supper, QPR have engineered one final, desperate opportunity to escape the relegation gallows; they cannot look back and they cannot falter.

They will come to Villa Park on Saturday with a 'win or bust' mentality which will ensure they drive the tempo of the game. Their game-plan is clear. They will 'go for it.'

Park sums up their mood declaring: "We're satisfied that we are getting better and now we need to keep winning and get out of the relegation zone.

"The mood in the dressing room is changing. There is a four-point difference with Villa and we all know that the upcoming games are really important.

But our performances in the last two matches have been good and now we need to keep this momentum going."

For Villa, however, a draw would be at least an adequate second base. They begin the day above the bottom three and four points clear of Rangers; if they end it the same way it will not be entirely despairing.

It is then this test of Lambert's team to handle the occasion, and not just the fixture, which will be keenly observed – and offer a vital indicator for the remainder of the programme.

Only twice in the last 10 seasons has the team finishing 17th required the classic 40 points-plus to survive. The reality is that Villa are likely to need only 10 more points from the 27 that remain to play for.

That would give them 37 which only last week Redknapp admitted was a tally which, if offered, he would grab.

But those chances will be receding sharply if a maturing Villa can hold their nerve for a second successive key victory on Saturday.