Crystal Palace defender James Tomkins has welcomed Christian Benteke's arrival from Liverpool.

Despite his disappointing spell at Anfield the Belgian striker arrives at Palace with an impressive record of 51 goals in 96 Premier League starts for Aston Villa and Liverpool.

Benteke made his Palace debut in last night's 2-0 League Cup win over Blackpool and defender Tomkins said: “He was not in Klopp's plans but he is certainly in ours.

“He comes here with a great record in the Premier League. He did brilliantly for Villa.

“He was in and out of the team at Liverpool and it is hard to get going.

“But if he gets the game time here, which I am sure he will, he is going to get goals if you feed him the right balls.

“Getting crosses in like Andros Townsend and Wilf Zaha can, I am sure he will score goals.

“He is brilliant in the air. One of the best I have played against in the air. Not just that, but he has got ability on the floor. He is a good player and I hope he does well for us.

“He was brilliant for Villa and scored all sorts of goals. He wins a lot of flick ons as well.

“He is really good in the air and he can bring the wide players in if they are going in behind."