Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert felt they failed to make the most of their early lead after going down 4-1 at Manchester United.

Villa beat Chelsea two weeks ago, and manager Paul Lambert felt his team missed another chance to pull off an upset on Saturday following a strong start.

"There was never three goals between us," Lambert said.

"We started the game great, and Westwood scored a great free-kick.

"We were comfortable at 1-0 and Manchester United were not creating too much."

Lambert's side would have had a better chance of victory had Christian Benteke not fluffed three good chances to score, but the Villa boss refused to blame the big Belgian.

"I can't be too critical of Christian because he has scored some vital goals in the last 18 months and will continue to do so," Lambert said.