Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor has heaped the praise on the club's youngsters following Saturday's 2-1 win at Norwich.

The forward grabbed both goals for Villa at Carrow Road to move Paul Lambert's side to the brink of safety.

Villa are now 13th in the Premier League table with 40 points, traditionally seen as the benchmark for survival, and Agbonlahor feels his side will improve further next season as long as they avoid relegation.

The 26-year-old believes the younger members of the squad have improved as the season has progressed and insists the future looks bright at Villa Park after a largely difficult and frustrating campaign.

"The young lads have come through," said Agbonlahor. "They had some bad things said about them when things were not going too well.

"But they had stood up to the player and performed week in, week out, and tried their hardest to improve and they are improving game by game.

"Hopefully if we can get this season out of the way you will see more improvement next season.

"They have had a lot of pressure on them and great credit to them they've stuck at it, carried on playing and fighting in big games.

"They have not crumbled and game by game they are improving. They have come back from games like at Chelsea (where Villa lost 8-0 in December) and long may it continue."

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