West Ham United reserves coach Alex Dyer has admitted admiration for Aston Villa's youth system.
A host of the club's youngsters have graduated to the first team in recent months, including winger Marc Albrighton, midfielder Barry Bannan and defenders Ciaran Clark, Eric Lichaj and Jonathan Hogg.
Such success and progress is exactly what Dyer is aiming for.
"They have a good reputation and set about things in the right way and have won the reserve league for the last three seasons, so it will be a good test for our boys, whatever side they put out," Dyer told whufc.com.
"They have invested in their reserve team and it's coming to fruition now because a lot of those young boys are getting into the first team. You can see what happens when you put it all in in the reserves. If you do well, then all of a sudden people start looking and they move on to the first team."
