Aston Villa skipper Ron Vlaar says his defensive partnership with Ciaran Clark will continue to improve.

The pair have now played together seven times in the Premier League for Villa but have managed just the one clean sheet so far - the 2-0 win over Swansea last month.

"It is getting better and better but we still need to improve," said Vlaar, who has joined up with his Holland team-mates for their World Cup qualifying matches against Andorra and Romania.

"We talk about it a lot together and I think everybody has to improve. If you believe you can then you can do it every day. It is a long way but we have to keep it up and move forward.

"The partnership with Ciaran is good but I think we have to better it, for the team and for ourselves. I think we can work on that every day and that is what we are doing.

"Communication can always be better and we talk to each other a lot about moments in the game, situations that have happened and what can happen in future. We always try to improve."