Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill is delighted to see new signing Emile Heskey off the mark.

O'Neill is clearly hoping that Heskey, who turned 31 a couple of weeks ago, will deliver goals.

The man who has returned to favour with England has scored an average of less than 10 league goals per season during his career, including three so far this term for Wigan.

But Heskey did score 13 times in Europe for Liverpool and his partnership with Michael Owen for club and country showed his quality.

O'Neill said: "I know Michael Owen had talked about Emile as the perfect partner but I only realised recently that Wayne Rooney has been saying much the same thing. That's a real tribute.

"Let's hope the one against Portsmouth will be the first of many by Emile for us.

"God willing he can stay fit and keep doing a great job."