Aston Villa striker Darren Bent knows Paul Lambert will be desperate to put one over on his former club in the Premier League this weekend.

The ex-Ipswich youth product was restored to the Villa frontline for a 1-0 defeat at Fulham on Saturday which prolonged the Midlands' outfit's worst start to a season since 1986. Lambert has insisted he feels no animosity towards the Canaries ahead of his first reunion, but Bent believes there is an extra edge to this fixture.

'It's a big match for the gaffer this weekend,' said the England striker. 'You always want to do well against your former club. He's our manager now. All the fans and the players are backing him and I'm sure we'll turn the results around.'

Austrian international Andreas Weimann insists Lambert's influence alongside his right-hand man Ian Culverhouse is gradually filtering through to the squad on the training pitches if not yet in league results.

'The sessions at Villa at the moment are really great. It's always quick and sharp and fun. It's really enjoyable,' he said. 'It tests us obviously and gets us improving and there's real focus about us out there and we're playing at our very best. But it's great to be involved in too because it's fun. We love it. You see everyone smiling every day when we go out to train and after the session also because we've enjoyed it. The training sessions are always different. We never seem to do the same thing every day.'