Crouch ready to bow to Angel

Peter Crouch is braced for a fight to hold on to his place at Aston Villa after admitting that fit again Juan Pablo Angel will still be his club’s number one striker.

Crouch took the first steps towards putting an under-achieving first two years of his Villa career behind him with two goals in last Saturday’s 5-0 demolition of Leicester at the Walkers Stadium.

But 6ft 7in tall Crouch is aware that Angel, Villa’s leading scorer with 16 goals this season, is available again after just over a fortnight on the sidelines with a leg injury.

Crouch said: “Juan Pablo has performed superbly all this season and has looked a real top player.

“Training with and being involved with people like Juan and Darius Vassell, who are international class players, can only help me – and it has done.

“I certainly feel that I am a better player than when I first arrived at Villa a couple of years ago and I’ve done okay the last couple of games. The two goals against Leicester topped it off for me.

“But I know that I have got my chance in the last two games because Juan Pablo was injured – and now he is close to being fit again.

“Juan is going to be the number one striker. All I can do when I get a chance is take it, and I think I went some way to doing that at Leicester.”

Crouch believes Villa have to look to use the demolition of Micky Adams’ side to kick-start their campaign as they gear up for tomorrow’s home clash with bottom club Leeds.

He said: “Everyone saw the fight and determination we showed against Bolton in the Carling Cup with 10 men, and then at Leicester everyone saw the quality that we have got as well.

“It has to be the launch-pad for the team for the rest of the season. I hope the last two games will be the catalyst to kick on through to May.”

Villa manager David O’Leary, who already has one of the smallest squads in the Premiership, will be without the suspended trio of Peter Whittingham, Mark Delaney and Gavin McCann against Leeds.

Whittingham and Delaney will serve one-match bans for incurring five bookings, but McCann is starting a five-game suspension for his misdemeanours over the two legs of the cup tie with Bolton.