Top scorer could be back in contention to face Spurs.
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Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert is hopeful that star striker Christian Benteke will be fit enough to face Tottenham Hotspur this weekend having come through national team duty unscathed, Sky Sports reports.
Benteke has not featured for Villa since their trip to Norwich in late September after he was forced off midway through the second half with a hip injury.
However, he was deemed fit enough by Belgium boss Marc Wilmots to be called up to the national side to face Serbia and Wales this week in their final two World Cup qualifiers, and though he didn’t feature in either game Lambert is keen to have him back for the clash with Spurs this weekend.
“He trained the last couple of days with Belgium and was on the bench which indicates that he felt pretty good,” said Lambert.
“Our medical team spoke to theirs – as you do with every player – and everyone seems to have come back not too bad.
“I don’t know if he’ll be ready for Tottenham. He’ll know himself how he’s feeling. All I know is he was on the bench last night.
“He trained for a couple of days and hadn’t had a reaction, but that might change, I’ll just wait and see.”
Lambert also believes that the club’s homegrown stars are doing a good job of helping their foreign counterparts settle into life in the West Midlands, by saying that it’s crucial players from overseas are made to feel welcome.
“I was a foreigner myself and I needed help when I was in Germany. I’m pretty sure the same thing will happen here,” he told the Birmingham Mail.
“When you are a foreigner and in another country you tend to fit into the culture pretty quickly. The group get on really well, they are a really strong group, The British lads will help them settle in quicker.
“Until I got to get to grips with the language it was difficult. It was the football terms I had to get first and foremost.
“Forget everything else, I needed to get the language on the football pitch first. Then everything falls into place and you get a grip on it.”