Whilst with it only being the mid-way stage of the season, Aston Villa's clash against a fellow newly-promoted side in Norwich certainly felt like a huge game in terms of importance. Both sides started the game in the relegation zone, with the Canaries rooted to the bottom of the table. A win for the away side at Villa Park on Boxing Day would have brought them on level terms with Dean Smith's men.

Watch Aston Villa Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

And having fallen to a 3-1 defeat at home to Southampton, Villa may have been fearing another potentially damaging result in the Premier League. But with the scores locked level at 0-0 well in to the second-half, Conor Hourihane came off the bench to strike the match-winner and grab the all-important three points.

Red Herring or Real Hero: Only hardcore Villa fans will get all of them right....

And after seeing the 28-year-old's display, fans of the Midlands side flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the midfielder, with a few hailing how he delivers when they need him the most.

A couple of fans insisted that Hourihane deserves a lot more praise, with one supporter in particular claiming that it is "mad" that some people may not rate him as much.

A few supporters declared that he represents a far better option than his teammate, Marvelous Nakamba, and urged the manager to give him a start.

If Smith is looking for a man to bring him a goal from midfield now that John McGinn is out injured, he can do a lot worse than turning to Hourihane. The 28-year-old has already struck six times in 15 games across all competitions, and after scoring the decisive goal against Norwich, will be fancying his chances of nailing down a position in the first-team for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, these are the two issues that Dean Smith must prioritise in the January transfer window.