By Aston Villa FC

Brown

Fabian Delph could lead Villa into the derby battle with West Brom - after receiving a ringing endorsement from Tim Sherwood for "shouldering the responsibility" of being claret and blue skipper.

Delph was made captain in the absence of Ron Vlaar on Saturday against Newcastle.

Vlaar is an injury doubt for the Baggies game and Sherwood would have no hesitation in selecting Delph for armband duties again.

Sherwood knows all about being a leader on the pitch - after skippering Blackburn to the Premier League title during his playing career.

He sees good traits in Delph.

He said: "You need someone who is not going to shirk responsibility.

"At the moment, we're in a situation where it could be easy for players to shirk responsibility.

"But I don't think Fabian is one of those characters. I am certainly not one of those.

"That's what I was looking for - and someone who is willing to get on the ball and willing to drive the team on.

"We need everyone to give everything between now and the end of the season."

Sherwood believes Delph has broad shoulders for the important task but he has also called for all his players to embrace the "severity of the situation" as Villa fight to stay in the Barclays Premier League.

He added: "Now it is a critical situation. We need to take points. The players need to realise the severity of the situation of what we're in.

"The pressure is immense. There's no chance of taking pressure of these guys because they are playing for a massive football club at the wrong end of the table. That's life. Get on with it.

"We think three points in the next game will take us closer to where we need to be. Tuesday has to be our cup final.

"Then 100% when Saturday comes that will be the most important game. We need to be in the semi-final, get to the cup final and win the cup."

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