Aston Villa goalscorer preview - Darren Bent

Aston Villa spent £24 million to bring Darren Bent to the club during January and they really need the striker to bang the goals in to push them clear of the bottom three.

The Midlands club sit 13th in the Premier League but are only two points ahead of the relegation places, meaning a poor run of form over the remaining games could mean they are the latest team who were supposedly 'too good to go down' but slipped out of the top flight.

Villa have struggled for goals all season and Gerard Houllier recognised this and moved to sign the England forward Bent (4/1 to score first goal versus Wolves) in a big-money move during the transfer window.

Many football fans raised their eyebrows when the 27-year-old switched pushing for a Europa League with Sunderland for a relegation dogfight with Villa, but he is exactly what the club needed as they were craving a proven goalscorer.

Bent came to Villa Park with a great goalscoring pedigree, starting when he made his debut as a 17-year-old with Ipswich Town, a club he went on to score 47 goals in 122 appearances before moving on to Premier League Charlton Athletic for £2.5 million.

On his debut versus Sunderland he scored two goals and it was during his time in South London that he really came to national attention, becoming the highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League in the 2005–06 season.

He earned a £16.5 million move to Tottenham Hotspur, but he never really established himself as a number one striker there despite scoring goals consistently when he was given an opportunity.

After moving to Sunderland in July 2009 Bent showed Spurs fans what he could do as he finished his first season with 25 goals in 40 appearances. He has also become an England regular and finally scored his first international goal in September 2010 versus Switzerland.

Since moving to Villa in January, Bent has scored three games in seven appearances and he showed his pedigree on his debut when he tapped in from close range to give his side a win over big-spending Manchester City.

With the likes of Stewart Downing (10/1 to score the first goal versus Wolves) and Ashley Young (15/2) on the wings Villa boast a midfield that can create opportunities for Bent.

While Villa fans have seen the likes of John Carew and Emile Heskey struggle to regularly score over recent years, now in Bent they a striker who is virtually guaranteed to get 20 goals a season.

Bent is likely to play a pivotal role as Villa look the climb the table and battle relegation, and it could be argued that all Villa's rivals in the bottom half of the league would love to have a Darren Bent leading their line.