Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has praised his young forward Andreas Weimann.

The 21-year-old has chipped in with 11 goals in all competitions this season as the Midlands outfit battle against relegation from the Premier League.

He made his debut for the club in August 2010, but made a name for himself by scoring a last-minute winner against Fulham last season.

Lambert believes that the Austrian's work rate has endeared himself to the Villa Park faithful.

"I think when you see somebody like that the thing that strikes you is his work rate," the club's official website quotes Lambert as saying.

"If you concentrate on people's strengths and not be negative all the time then hopefully you'll get an extra percentage out of them and I think that's what's happened. We've got the best out of him.

"You look at the crowd with him as well. The crowd love him. When you see that sort of thing, the crowd identify because he's been through the ranks."

Villa snapped Weimann up from Rapid Vienna's youth academy in 2007.