Darren Bent says Aston Villa players are fully behind manager Alex McLeish.

Under-fire McLeish is yet to convince fans following his controversial summer switch from relegated arch-rivals Birmingham.

His reign has also been under the microscope after arguments with Stephen Ireland and Charles N'Zogbia at Newcastle.

But Bent said: "All the players in the changing rooms are 100 per cent behind him.

"We're all fighting for the same goal, which is to finish in the top ten.

"Now January is out of the way, we know what players we've got to do it with and know what to do.

"All the boys are fully behind the manager and all we can keep doing is helping his cause by us playing well on the pitch.

"That's all we can do really, there's nothing else we can do but play well on the pitch and that will take some of the heat off the manager."