Andreas Weimann scored his first Premier league goal to help Aston Villa to a thrilling 1-0 win over Fulham during the weekend.

The win is also extremely crucial for Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish, who has come under intense criticism of late.

Aston Villa were perilously close to the relegation zone just prior to the match, but as a result of this victory, they now are in a comfortable position heading into the last few matches of the Premier league season. Fulham are coming into the match on a good run of scoring form after having defeated struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-0 in their previous match.

Aston Villa will be without Darren Bent for the rest of the season, and it is also highly likely that the England striker will be absent at the Euro 2012 in the summer.

The England forward suffered the injury in the match against Wigan recently. He injured his ankle ligaments and has now undergone an operation in order to recover as soon as possible.

Still, Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish is set to be without his star striker for the rest of the season and this comes as a major blow for Aston Villa and their hopes of making it into the top 10 of the table.

Aston Villa striker Robbie Keane has said that he is open to making his move permanent to the Midlands club.

Former Tottenham striker Robbie Keane is currently on loan from MLS side LA Galaxy. He is set to return to the American club within the next few weeks, which would be a major blow for Aston Villa.

Since his arrival at Villa Park, Robbie Keane has been an extremely good player. These have led to suggestions that Aston Villa will be prepared to make a bid for the Republic of Ireland international, who has a lot of Premier league experience.

After a season of struggle under Gerrard Houllier, Aston Villa were expected to progress into the top 10 this season.

However, things have not gone exactly to plan after the arrival of new manager Alex McLeish from Birmingham City.

Alex McLeish was never the favourite amongst the Villa supporters due to his connections with Birmingham City, but Aston Villa board decided to go ahead with the appointment anyway. So far, Aston Villa have not made any progress in the Premier league and have also been knocked out of the cup competitions as well.

Despite this, Aston Villa youngster Marc Albrighton has said that Aston Villa are looking to progress in the table and are not concerned about the threat of relegation.

Alex McLeish of Aston Villa has let out the reasons why he was so keen on signing a quick loan deal for Robbie Keane - he feels that Keane is highly motivated in his approach and can help to bring about a change to the Villa team, and get the team fired up the prem table.

Robbie Keane is probably going to be signed for a two month loan deal so he is likely to play in six premier league games.

As yet, there is no commitment from any one at the Aston Villa end as no-one wants to give their final word until the entire deal is seen through. As of now, people are speculating that the entire transfer deal will be around 500 thousand pounds (including the amount for the wages, insurance and the loan fee). The deal should be finalized latest by next week.

Aston Villa midfielder Marc Albrighton has taken the distinction of being the first player to score the 20,000th Premier League goal.

Marc Albrighton achieved this record in the midweek match against Arsenal. Even though Aston Villa lost the match at the last, Marc Albrighton has been rewarded with his achievement by allowing him to donate £ 20,000 to charity of his choice.

The previous landmark of 15,000 goals in the Premier League was achieved in December 2006 by Martin Votz of Fulham. Les Ferdinand was the another player to create this kind of record back in 2001 when he scored the 10,000th goal while playing for Tottenham.

Aston Villa were left wondering how they ended their game against Arsenal pointless after dominating much of the match.

The home side spurned a number of good chances before Theo Walcott was fouled in the box and Robin van Persie stepped up to blast home the resulting penalty.

But things changed when Marc Albrighton made the most of a defensive mix up between Thomas Vermaelen and Per Mretesacker.

The former was unable to find the latter with a simple pass and the Villa man nipped in, rounded Arsenal keep Tomas Szczesny and slotted home what was the Premier League’s 20,000th goal.

Aston Villa have had an indifferent start to the season. Even though they were unbeaten until the trip to Manchester City, they have had a lot of draws this season, and as a result, they find themselves only seven points about the drop zone.

The situation would be extremely misleading if you take the league positions into account because they lie in the eighth place just below Arsenal. However, performances have been pretty poor this season with the team struggling to score goals on a regular basis. The departure of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing has definitely had an impact, but it falls down to new manager Alex McLeish to sort it out.

As the international break draws to its conclusion, players will be hurrying back to train and prepare for the weekend of matches that lie ahead. Aston Villa on Monday face a big task as they take on high flying Spurs at White Hart Lane.

Aston Villa have confirmed that they have suspended midfielder Barry Bannan until they have had a full inquiry into his high-speed motorway crash.

The accident happened on Sunday evening, after Bannan had spent the afternoon with footballing friend (and former Villa footballer) James Collins. As they were driving back towards Birmingham on the M1 their vehicle veered out of control, and it was only sheer chance that meant that nobody was hurt.