Benteke ‘a victim of his own success’ at Villa

Misfiring Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke is a “victim of his own success”, according to his boss Paul Lambert, who insists the Belgian only has himself to blame due to the high standards he set last season.

Benteke, who turned 23 this week, has gone seven games without scoring. Lambert says it was inevitable Benteke would be under the microscope this season after scoring 23 goals in his maiden campaign.

“Christian’s a victim of his own success but he’s created that himself,” Lambert said.

“There’s nobody he can blame for that other than himself because he set a really high standard for himself and when you fall below it, that’s what can happen.

“The challenge is for him to bounce back from that... he just needs a goal to set himself back on that road.”

Lambert’s side travel to in-form Southampton tonight, with Austrian forward Andreas Weimann (hamstring) an injury doubt. Saints manager Mauricio Pochettino has warned his players must not let successive Premier League defeats to Arsenal and Chelsea derail what has been a promising campaign.

“We don’t have time to dwell on two consecutive defeats,” Pochettino said yesterday. “All we can do is recover, to get our energy back and try to fix the mistakes we have made in the past to make sure they do not happen again.”

Goalkeeper Artur Boruc could miss eight matches as he recovers from a fractured hand. Reserve Kelvin Davis is also sidelined, so 21-year-old Argentinian Paulo Gazzaniga looks set for an extended run of first-team action.