Paul Lambert hails 'class' Christian Benteke
Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert today hailed "world class" Christian Benteke after his hat-trick fired the club to the brink of Premier League survival.
Benteke's treble moved Villa five points clear of third-bottom Wigan after they thumped Sunderland 6-1 last night.
It was the first time Villa had scored six at home in the league since a 7-1 win over Wimbledon in 1995 and they boast a better goal difference than Wigan and Newcastle.
And Lambert praised Belgium striker Benteke after he set a new club record by reaching 18 Premier League goals in a season.
With Villa now 16th, Lambert said: "Christian's been absolutely world class.
"The fans love him, don't they? I can't speak highly enough of him.
"He's brilliant but he's also a really humble guy.
"If he keeps working hard and stays hungry he has a big career in front of him.
"When he headed in from the corner, he jumped the height of the crossbar. He's been excellent – at the start of the season I thought we needed a striker like that.
"Everyone can see his technique is fabulous. When you've got a front line of Benteke, Andreas Weimann and Gabby Agbonlahor then you've got a real threat.
"But I thought Matt Lowton was our best player by a mile last night."
Gabby Agbonlahor became the club's record Premier League goalscorer with a late strike – his 61st in the top flight – while Ron Vlaar also netted his first Villa goal.
Andreas Weimann bagged his 12th of the season which cancelled out Danny Rose's brief leveller in the first half and Lambert insisted Villa have saved their season.
He said: "Our position is certainly better than it was a few months ago.
"We have been in this position for most of the season – but the way we're playing now we don't look like a side who are near the bottom of the table.
"We were few goals behind but the goal difference has been turned around, that was an added bonus. It's brought everyone else back into it and pulled us away from Wigan.
"We were outstanding and the stadium was rocking. Our young lads are getting better and better. The crowd recognise that and they're bouncing off each other.
"I have just tried to keep the players believing in what we're doing."