ALEX McLeish has challenged goal-getting Gabby Agbonlahor to strive for consistency and use his Premier League half century as a springboard to score more regularly for Aston Villa.

Agbonlahor impressed his new manager, not just with his 50th top flight goal for Villa but with his all-round alertness in last weekend’s 3-1 victory over Blackburn.

McLeish is preparing to unleash the Brummie striker on Wolves at Villa Park today after he overcame a hamstring problem which forced him off at half-time against Rovers.

And the manager has told Agbonlahor he must now maintain his high standards if he is to add to his goals tally and force his way back into the England squad.

“It’s up to Gabby isn’t it?” said McLeish.

“It’s difficult to say one goal and that’s him back to his England best, but he’s certainly got the capability to score more, to cause problems like he did last week.

“It’s all about consistency and staying in the team because there are players breathing down not only Gabby’s neck but others in the team, too.

“He did very well, looking back over the first 20 minutes when he got his goal.

“But there were other aspects to his game which people perhaps might not have attributed to Gabby, such as his tracking back, getting into good positions, counter-attacking. We had a real good performance from his last week.”

Fitness coach Adrian Lamb is working closely with Agbonlahor to eradicate some of the injury issues that caused frustration and disrupted last season.

“I don’t know if he’s looking sharper as I wasn’t here last season,” said McLeish.

“We’ve certainly tried to make him as fit as possible and we’ll keep working on the fitness side to help Gabby maintain his running at defenders and be able to do that for 90 minutes.

“It’s a new season, a new era for everyone and Gabby has started the season very promisingly indeed.”

McLeish suggested Agbonlahor was no trouble to deal with from a manager’s point of view after admitting all players presented individual challenges.

“I think every player is different,” he added.

“You can’t manage every player the same nowadays.

“The old mantra of the manager was treat them all the same. Now you have to be a psychologist dealing with every player, but Gabby Agbonlahor has been fine.”