Paul Lambert insists Darren Bent has Aston Villa future

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has insisted that Darren Bent has a future at the club despite leaving him out of his 18-man squad twice in the last three days.

Bent has not featured for Villa in November and was left out of the squad to face Reading tonight despite declaring himself fit to play.

Lambert believes that Bent can earn his place back through hard work in training and is adamant that he picks the team that he thinks has the best chance of winning matches.

He told Sky Sports News: "Darren Bent just has to play well and train well. I'm not going to invent something that football people understand. He has a future, everybody has.

"Nothing against anybody in the club, but I've got 25 lads to look after. Bent and Christian Benteke can play together, they did against Southampton. I've got to pick a team I think will win."

Benteke helped Villa forget about Bent's omission by scoring a late winner against the Royals to lift Lambert's side out of the relegation zone.