Carlos Cuellar has admitted relief he is on the same Aston Villa team as John Carew.

Carew scored one and was involved in three others as Villa's attack clicked into life to produce the club's most resounding scoreline since their 5-1 victory over Blues more than 18 months ago.

"I am happy John plays for Aston Villa," Cuellar told the Birmingham Mail. "I would rather play with him than against him.

"Of course as you can imagine he is hard defend against.

"In training I sometimes have to play against him and he is really hard to mark.

"John is big and he is strong and clever, he's probably the best player in the air in the Premier League."