Aston Villa's leading scorer John Carew claims Emile Heskey's arrival proved to be the catalyst behind his record breaking goals tally for the club. The Norwegian striker finished the season with 15 goals after returning in prolific form from a three-month lay-off with a back problem.

The 29-year-old told the Birmingham Mail.

"In two months I can sit and reflect and maybe find that him coming to the club has lifted everybody around him up front and made the competition a bit harder and made the strikers raise their level," said Carew.

"He's been amazing in training, but in the period when you come to a new club you need some extra time to get into the rhythm. For me as well, I really started after maybe being here for six months. That's when things started to go well.

"It was a bit different because I hadn't been in England playing before.

"But he's an England international and he's at a new club with new players.

"He's needs games to reach the peak and show everything he can do, which is a lot because he's a very good football player."