Lambert pleased with 'battling' Villa

A spectacular free-kick from Leandro Bacuna gave Villa the lead, their first goal in seven-and-a-half hours of Premier League football, before a Libor Kozak header made sure of the points.

And Lambert was pleased with the fighting spirit shown by his team as they secured just their second home win of the season in the Premier League ahead of the international break.

He told Sky Sports News: "If you look at the team we've got out there, we've got two young kids on the bench, so that probably shows you how stretched we are, we've lost a lot of players in this little bit so the break's probably come at a good time but I thought that we were excellent I really did.

"We could hear the crowd getting edgy and we're a young side so that's probably the last thing you want but credit to the players they really battled and I thought they were really good."

Lambert also hailed Bacuna, who also scored a free-kick against Manchester City and has impressed since arriving from Groningen.

He said "I thought his one against Manchester City was first class but with that one I think the ball was actually by the post before coming back in. But he can do it, he's done it numerous times in training and it was a fabulous goal."