Gabriel Agbonlahor appeared to be the next best prospect for the England national team to come out of the Aston Villa youth academy.

In his early years as a professional footballer, Agbonlahor primarily relied on the blistering pace in order to make an impact. This has substantially reduced in recent years due to injury problems and the player concentrating on strength rather than speed. The 29-year-old is now placed a perfect foil for Christian Benteke, but he has also proven to be an adequate replacement playing alone. Agbonlahor has featured in 14 league matches this season.

His return of three goals may not be setting the goal charts on fire, but former Villa striker Dwight Yorke says that the impact made by the Englishman has been profound. The work rate of Agbonlahor has also not gone unnoticed, as Yorke believes that this has been a major factor in the recent resurgence of Villa. Agbonlahor was once again crucial in the club’s 2-1 victory over Leicester City on Monday night. This was the second consecutive win for the clarets and it moves them to within two points of Liverpool. A local derby against West Brom awaits Villa when they return to league action this weekend.

“He was outstanding in the second half. He’s got pace and he used that for the second goal. He kept his composure, picked out a good pass to (Christian) Benteke and he made a fantastic pass to Alan Hutton. Agbonlahor is the one who really triggered things and really set the tone for Villa in the second half,” said Yorke. Clark opened the scoring for Villa after 17 minutes and this helped them equalise the scores after Ulloa had given Leicester the lead four minutes before. Alan Hutton’s 71st minute goal proved to be the winner while defender Paul Konchesky was sent off for a straight red card in the 80th minute.