Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert celebrated the performance of his side after their 2-1 Premier League win against West Ham.

Efforts from Christian Benteke and Charles N’Zogbia gave the Midlanders the lead at Villa Park, before a late own goal from Ashley Westwood set up a tense end to the game.

The win was the Villains first in nine games, and Lambert was delighted with the result, particularly after seeing his side surrender leads on numerous occasions recently:

"It's a huge win for us, we have been in positions of being goals up in a few games.” He is quoted by Sky Sports.

"If we had taken more points from those, we'd be comfortably in mid-table. But the pleasing thing is we have hopefully broken the camel's back with that."

"It's only great when you hear that whistle and you've won. It's the only good thing about it. The stress levels are ridiculous.

"It's hard to explain. You have to be in that position. Balls are going into your box. But once it's finished it's great you have won. You just have to see it through."

Both of Villa’s goals came from set-pieces, with Benteke converting from the penalty spot and N’Zogbia netting from a free-kick.

Lambert was thrilled with his winger’s strike and believes that the Frenchman has the technical ability to play a key role in the clubs battle to beat the drop:

"The free-kick was world-class, an absolute world-class goal. He's got that in him,

"He's a really talented footballer.

"Since he's come back into the fold he's been excellent. He has been very good. He's got that X-Factor. These type of players are not easy to come by."

Benteke opened the scoring from the spot after Mark Noble had felled N’Zogbia.

The former Wigan then turned scorer, doubling the lead with an expertly take free-kick.

The visitors clawed a goal back late on with Westwood heading Joe Cole’s cross into his own net.

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