Gabriel Agbonlahor

Gabby Agbonlahor is one of Villa's star strikers - mixing scorching pace, terrific awareness and a deadly eye for goal.

This was most in evidence at the start of the 2009-10 campaign, where the speed demon bagged goals in five consecutive games - against Fulham, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Cardiff and Blackburn.

His goals against the Cottagers and the Bluebirds were beautiful efforts - the former a tremendous blast into the top corner, the latter a deft backheel in the opening minutes of our League Cup third round clash.

His fab five feat was the first time anyone had achieved such a distinction since David Platt in the early 1990s.

He also ended the campaign with a flourish, bagging two goals in three games against Everton and Hull, ending with 16 in all competitions.

He was also in fine form during the 2008-09 term, finishing with a total of 13, two more than the previous season.

And his haul included a hat-trick which was significant for a number of reasons. His eight-minute treble in the opening game against Manchester City was the first Barclays Premier League hat-trick of the season and the fastest since Robbie Fowler's three for Liverpool against Arsenal in 1994.

It was also the first time a Villa player had scored a hat-trick on the opening day since Pongo Waring hit four against Manchester United in 1930.

Agbonlahor's pace is always a handful for opposition defenders, just as it was throughout his graduation from Villa's youth teams to the senior side.

On the international front, Fabio Capello is definitely no stranger to Agbonlahor and rates the pacy striker highly, despite omitting him from his World Cup squad.

In fact, the Italian handed Agbonlahor his full international debut in November 2008. After being called up for matches against Switzerland, USA and Trinidad and Tobago between February and June 2008 - but ultimately not playing - he finally got the chance to impress the Italian supremo against Germany in Berlin.

Agbonlahor started and did well in the friendly clash - causing problems in the backline as well as having a goal disallowed in the 2-1 victory.

He received high praise from John Terry after the game, with the Chelsea defender saying Agbonlahor was a "nightmare to play against."

He subsequently started against Spain in a February 2009 friendly, was called up against Ukraine for a World Cup qualifying match the following month and started against Belarus - also in qualifying game - in October 2009 before eventually missing out on the South Africa showpiece when the final party was announced.