By Paul Brown

Kevin MacDonald insists Marc Albrighton has the attitude and appetite to be a top-flight star after wowing the claret and blue crowd with a brilliant display against West Ham.

Albrighton was in full flow against the Hammers - attacking with menace, setting up goals and also doing his fair share of defensive work for the team.

The Villa crowd were singing his name throughout the game as they looked for one of their own to make the grade.

And MacDonald believes he has a great chance of succeeding.

He said: "He's got a fantastic attitude, wants to play for Aston Villa and wants to play football.

"He had a few problems in his early years when he came to us, when he was 16, 17, 18, with ankle issues, but he managed to work those out.

"He's got fantastic pace and fantastic desire to try and get crosses in.

"He needs to work on a couple of things but I'll not tell you what they are. He needs to score more goals at the back post and actually I thought he might have done better in the second half from a cross. I don't think he really believed he was going to score.

"But he is improving all the time and if he continues to improve he can be as exciting as Stewart Downing is, or as Ashley Young was on the wing, but he's got a long way to go.

"I think Marc would classify himself as a Premier League player, as he said previously, when we played Walsall.

"But whether he's going to play every game, it might be difficult for him to play 38 games this year partly based on the amount of energy he puts into his game, whether it's trying to drive forward or trying to get back to cover, the kid has got such an appetite to become a top footballer that if he fails it won't be through not trying his best.

"I would expect him to play quite a few Premier League games because he deserves the opportunity, as I am sure all the 11 players who played against West Ham deserve another opportunity.

"Marc would have been in the system with the academy since he's been nine or ten. He's a Villa fan and he lived just up the road from the training ground so it was easy for him to get there.

"He can play centre forward as well. With his energy levels up front he puts defenders under pressure as well."

MacDonald admitted he's not thinking about bossing Villa full-time at the moment because he's concentrating on getting the players ready for upcoming games.

He added: "It's nice of people to say that [favourite for the job] but that's not my priority at the moment.

"As I said previously there's going to be a lot of big names in for it, and quite rightly so, it's a big football club.

"I like to just get on with my job and we'll see what happens from game to game or from day to day.

"I'm not really too interested in what's happening on that side at the moment because the games are coming so thick and fast. If I can get on the training ground and try and affect the players, that's better for me."

Watch Marc as he looks to do it again against Everton - click here for all the information.