Christian Benteke

LATEST NEWS

By his standards, Christian Benteke had a quiet afternoon in the 2-1 win at Norwich.

But the striker - who hit a hat-trick against Sunderland a few days earlier - has had a good week, scooping the Players' Young Player of the Year award at the end-of-season dinner.

He goes in to the Chelsea clash on 18 top-flight goals and hopes to become the first Villa striker since Peter Withe to score 20 in the league in one season.

WHAT HE SAID

The beauty of football is that when you score, you enter into a world of your own for the next few seconds. When I scored against Swansea on my debut I was thinking, I'm in a new country, with a new club -and, my God, I've just scored.

I've been aware of the importance to strikers scoring at the Holte End since I came here. That was pointed out to me when I looked around the stadium.

WHAT OTHERS SAID

Brian Little: I have been impressed with the new signing Christian Benteke. He is in the mould of the classic centre-forward the club's fans love to support. It's a position that's become famous for Villa over the years.

Gabby Agbonlahor: Christian gives us a different option. He can hold the ball up similar to when John Carew was here. He can win a lot of aerial balls and he can finish.

Barry Bannan: He is a huge guy around the place. He is unbelievable. To be as big and strong as that at just 21? I want some of what he's been eating.

Paul Lambert: He's a big presence up there and his presence alone will unnerve a few people

MINI PROFILE

Christian Benteke came flying through the ranks at Belgian club JS Pierreuse from the tender age of six before moving to Standard Liege in 2004 and Genk in 2006.

He spent three initial years at Genk but only featured in 10 games for the club before he rejoined Standard Liege in 2008, where he scored three goals in nine appearances.

Two loan spells kickstarted Benteke's career as the striker scored nine goals in 22 games at KV Kortrijk in 2009-10 and six goals in 23 games at KV Mechelen the following season.

He returned to Genk in 2011-12 - playing against previous club Standard in his first game, which his new side won 3-0 - where he netted 16 times in 36 appearances.

Benteke's international career began at a young age for Belgium, appearing 24 times at youth level before making his senior debut in May 2010 against Bulgaria, after being picked for the squad by his coach at Kortrijk, Georges Leekens.

INTERESTING FACT

Christian grew very quickly as a kid but it sometimes posed a problem. When he played against other clubs in Belgium as a youngster, he often had to show his identity card because they didn't believe his age!