Player Focus: Why Benteke Being 'Back' Should be No Great Surprise

Tuesday night's clash between Aston Villa and QPR was a timely reminder that the Midlands outfit, to all extents and purposes, possess the best player of the sides still frantically fighting the drop. In truth they have done for the last three seasons.

Christian Benteke's hat-trick ensured that Tim Sherwood's men salvaged a point in midweek which, although an ultimately disappointing result, was crucial to prevent a slide into the bottom three. The performance from the Belgian warranted a WhoScored.com rating of 10 and was as clear a sign possible that the striker is well and truly back to his best.

The 24-year old was playing with a swagger and, importantly, a smile. Whenever the camera was on the striker when the ball had gone out of play he was clearly enjoying the occasion, which is something that couldn't be said prior to the departure of Paul Lambert this season.

The Scot deserves a great deal of credit for bringing Benteke to the club but an attempt to change the style of play left Villa's prized asset isolated and visibly disgruntled. His angled brow dropped ever deeper in frustration, though that was admittedly borne out of anger at his own performance levels as much as a decreasing integration in the team's approach play. Benteke, after all, was not blameless in Villa’s eventual plight under Lambert.

Many pointed to Tim Sherwood's ability to get the best out of Emmanuel Adebayor during his time at Spurs when he was appointed at Villa but the two scenarios differ.

The Tottenham man was out in the cold in the capital before Sherwood decided to build his side around the Togolese and while he's beginning to effectively do the same with Benteke, the Belgian has always been the main man at Villa Park. A quiet character off the field, Benteke is not exactly similar to Adebayor in that respect, but has responded to the new manager's often ridiculed, no nonsense approach regardless.

While it was an inch-perfect late leveller from a dead ball situation that will stand out to most as the pick of Benteke's bunch against QPR, the composure with which he dispatched Villa's second was the clearest indicator of a man whose confidence had been restored. After a fast break it appeared as though the powerful forward had dallied on the ball to allow Clint Hill to recover but he actually used the veteran defender's attempt to block his shot as somewhat of a decoy, completely outfoxing both Hill and Robert Green to slot calmly into the opposite corner the Hoops duo had expected.

He's now just one goal shy of last season's league tally of 10 having struck 7 times since Sherwood's arrival, each of which have come in his last 5 appearances. Those 7 goals have come from just 11 shots in that time, having scored just 2 league goals previous from 54 shots over his first 18 appearances this season.

It's clear that Villa's willingness to go direct to Benteke has returned, and while it's not a new approach that Sherwood has adopted it is one that he deserves credit for reverting to. It's also not altogether surprising that the striker is coming good at this time of the season either, not least having had to recover from a very serious achilles injury that saw him miss out on the World Cup last summer.

That, for any player, would be a huge blow, not only to his physical capabilities but also his mental toughness. Throw in the fact that Benteke became a father for the first time in the summer and his struggles upon returning to first team action become all the more understandable.

However, there is a notable trend to Benteke's form since he made the move to England and that, crucially for a side that have been battling relegation since his arrival, is that he tends to improve in the second half of the season. Admittedly he left it a little late this year, but given Villa's stagnating style of play that much is somewhat forgivable.

His end of season exploits are such that no Premier League player has scored more goals after the turn of the year over each of the last 3 seasons combined. His seven goals in 2015 have taken that tally to 27, which is 2 more than nearest challenger Daniel Sturridge and a whopping 16 more than he has struck over the same campaigns before the turn of the year. His efforts this time around have seen his WhoScored.com rating rise substantially from a disappointing 6.59 up until January this season to 7.26 thereafter.

When was asked whether Benteke's return to form would fire Villa to safety once more this season, Sherwood replied "That's the plan". He's not sugar coating the fact that his ideas are simple - he rarely does - but nor does he need to in this instance. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that you should play to the strengths of your strongest asset. It doesn't even take a Tim Sherwood.

Christian Benteke is Aston Villa's Plan A, B and C at the moment but, assuming he stays fit, that should be enough to ensure their survival once again.

Will Christian Benteke's goals steer Villa to safety under Tim Sherwood? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below