Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor gets support from Stiliyan Petrov

Apr 8 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

STILIYAN Petrov is backing Gabby Agbonlahor to follow his example and beat the claret and blue critics on his return to Villa Park this Sunday.

Agbonlahor is braced for his first Holte End homecoming since the negative reaction which greeted his substitution against Tottenham last month.

The Brummie striker is expected to get a much warmer reception in the crunch clash against Everton having scored at Manchester United last weekend.

And new fans’ favourite Petrov is confident Agbonlahor is strong enough to cope with returning to the scene of his lowest moment in football.

“I don’t think Gabby has taken too much notice of that because he’s a clever boy and he knows when fans demand he needs to produce,” said Petrov.

“He went on not a bad run but a run when things weren’t going for him, but he’s working very hard in training to improve that.

“He understands that sometimes things don’t go well for you and I think when you see Gabby in the next few games you will see a different player.”

Even though Agbonlahor bore the brunt of fans’s frustrations, Petrov believes the whole of Martin O’Neill’s team must share the blame.

And the Bulgarian midfielder accepts that grumbles from the stands are inevitable after four

straight defeats and nine games without a win.

“I don’t think the frustration was just against him,” said Petrov.