Tim Sherwood backed Christian Benteke to fire Aston Villa to safety after the revitalised striker scored a hat-trick to deny Queens Park Rangers the victory that would have seen the teams trade places in the battle to avoid relegation.
The Villa manager praised his star man’s contribution after Benteke took his recent tally to seven goals in five games for the lowest scorers in the Premier League. QPR’s spirits were deflated after Charlie Austin had given them a 3-2 lead with 12 minutes remaining with his 17th goal of the season but Sherwood believes Benteke’s return to his best form has come at just the right time. Villa, climbing above Hull City into 16th place, are three points above QPR, who crept above Burnley on goal difference but remain third bottom.
“I’ve always said he’s a good player,” Sherwood said. “He’s in a rich vein of form. It doesn’t come much better than that. It was fantastic for him to score the goals, it was just a shame we couldn’t get the three points. Christian’s pulled one out of the bag for us late in the game. We’re grateful for that.”
Asked whether Benteke’s return to his prolific best could keep Villa up, Sherwood said: “That’s the plan, if we can shore it up at the back as well.
“We’re creating chances aren’t we? I can’t really understand how they’d only scored 12 [league] goals before I came here. It’s a head-scratcher really. Maybe that’s the only reason they’ve only won three times here this season. It’s incredible for players with that sort of strike rate.”
Benteke had been out of sorts after returning from a long absence with an achilles injury and had mustered only two league goals this season before Sherwood’s arrival. But with the new manager sticking to his attacking beliefs Benteke looks capable of repeating his feats of two years ago, when his 19 league goals were the chief reason Villa avoided relegation. This term could be similar, especially after Tuesday night’s heroics.
“Of course we wanted more than a point,” the Belgium striker said. “It is always nice to get a hat-trick but it is shame we didn’t get the three points. I think we deserved three points. We were better than them. We know it is a hard situation and that every point is crucial. We have just got to keep fighting.”
Villa face games at Tottenham Hotspur, Sherwood’s former club, and Manchester City either side of their FA Cup semi-final with the winners of the replay between Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool. But Sherwood doesn’t necessarily believe Villa’s fate will come down to the last game of the season, when they host Burnley. “Not when we beat Tottenham and Man City,” he quipped.
QPR had looked on the verge of completing successive victories in the West Midlands, after winning four miles away at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. “It’s a long time, eight minutes,” Chris Ramsey, their head coach, said, recalling his feelings before Benteke’s final equaliser, with the final whistle looming. “That’s heart-attack time for a manager because you can see you’re going to win but anything can happen – a corner, a free-kick, a bit of magic.
“I think it is a better result for Villa than us. It keeps the space between the same as it is. They’ve still got a bit of credit in hand.”
QPR host Chelsea on Sunday and also have to play Liverpool and Manchester City before finishing up away to Leicester City. “I don’t know what we need,” Ramsey said. “But we’re probably going to have to win three games. The two homes games after Chelsea [West Ham United and Newcastle United] are going to be very important and then potentially the Cup final on the last day against Leicester. Most teams near the bottom would take it going to the last day of the season and still being in it. Then you roll the dice.”
