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Aston Villa and Gerard Houllier might well have finally found some inspiration for their season.
Two wins in a week, against Manchester City and Wigan have given the Frenchman breathing space after Villa's backboard made their support public.
It's safe to say, the change in fortunes could well be down to the sense of excitement Darren Bent has brought back to Villa Park.
Since James Milner left in the summer, the Villa faithful have been waiting for someone; Ashley Young, Stuart Downing, Gabriel Agbonlahor, to inspire the team and it hasn't happened, despite the form of Marc Albrighton.
It seems that the lift from Darren Bent's potential £24 million transfer has had a positive effect on the squad, with him scoring the winner on debut and playing a part in their win at Wigan.
Darren Bent had only ever scored once at Villa Park, for Spurs, but netted on his home debut.
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Aston Villa are one of those teams who thrive on confidence and it seemed the turning point over the last few months was when they threw away a 2 goal lead against current league leaders Manchester United at home, to leave Villa Park with only a point.
Since that, the side, captained by Stiliyan Petrov, have exited the Carling Cup at the hands of their near rivals Birmingham City and had only won once in 10 attempts in the league before the new striker pounced at weekend to hand them a 1-0 win, their first clean sheet in any competition since October.
Villa have now risen to 13th in the Barclays Premier League after a troublesome winter, but could they really kick on from here?
The answer, of course, is yes, given what we expect from the Midlands outfit.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them reach the top half come May, a target they are only 2 points off with 14 games to play.
No doubt, Gerard Houllier's side were in a false position but it will be interesting to see whether the manager now starts to win over the fans, something he has failed in achieving since he took over from Martin O'Neill.
Darren Bent might have gone some distance to helping him on that front and he will score goals, no matter who he plays with and it's about time the Villains had a top quality poaching striker, the last of whom questionably being Milan Baros, who left for the New York Red Bulls in April of 2007.
£24 million seems a lot in the current climate, but in a similar way to the Charlie Adam situation, every place in the Premier League, and survival, is worth so much that minimal transfer fee's don't make that much difference in the long run if the club remains in the top flight.
I am very much of the belief that Charlie Adam is worth more than £4 or even £10 million to Blackpool over the next 4 months if they can guarantee another year in the top flight and Bent is the same, on a different level.
He ups the bar and Villa will benefit from it.
Houllier can do the business, and he's had time to make necessary changes which he couldn't after he arrived at the end of the summer transfer window.
It looks as though Richard Dunne has found some form at the right time again, with the Republic of Ireland international seemingly out of sorts at the start of this season; a shadow of the player he was last season.
Villa's defence has been at sixes and sevens all season.
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It's a huge problem that no-one has brought the best out of Steven Ireland this season as well, but the team have pulled together and, with spirit high in the camp, I can't see there being any problems on their side of Birmingham this season.
Where do you think Villa will finish? How many goals can Darren Bent score this season? Please discuss below.
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