Former Aston Villa boss John Gregory feels Paul Lambert is building an exciting, young team at Villa Park.

Gregory feels that if the survival battle can be won, the future at Villa Park may be quite bright.

"Lots of things have changed at Villa from my time," he said. "The owner has spent an enormous amount of money and paid off quite a few managers over the last few years.

"This year, Paul Lambert was given a very limited budget.

"The club weren't prepared to spend money willy-nilly because it didn't seem to be working.

"Instead, Paul has invested in youth. He lost one or two of his more experienced players through injury or bad form and has had to put out inexperienced teams week after week.

"They have not been particularly good defensively but I always felt they could nick something because they have good strikers with a lot of pace.

"If Paul can manage to negotiate this season and keep the club in the Premier League, you will see a much improved Aston Villa squad next year."