Is it Heskey’s Time To Shine Under Houllier?

Frozen out towards the end of Martin O’Neill’s reign at Aston Villa one man who would have been delighted to see Gerard Houllier return to the Premier League is former England international Emile Heskey.

The Frenchman took Heskey to Merseyside back in 2000 for £11 million where the powerful striker enjoyed some of the best times of his career forging a good partnership with Michael Owen and breaking into the national side. While at Anfield his goalscoring wasn’t prolific but he played a big part in a successful Liverpool side and Houllier certainly appreciated that.

Since arriving at Villa the Frenchman has stuck with what he knows and brought Heskey straight back into the side in place of Norwegian John Carew. Heskey repaid this faith with the winner away at Wolves last week with a fantastic header. He will not go on and score fifteen goals this season but his game is about more than that. He will hold the ball up, win headers and prove an outlet for Villa when they have been under pressure. Houllier got the best out of Heskey at Anfield and if he manages to do so again at Villa he could just prove a very shrewd appointment. Even if the Villa fans still need to be convinced about both of the men in question it could prove to be a match made in heaven.