Emile Heskey is hopeful that his former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier ‘can bring good times’ to Aston Villa (10/1 Premiership Top 4 Finish) following his recent appointment as Martin O’Neill’s successor at Villa Park.

Former England striker, Heskey, revelled under the Frenchman’s stewardship at Anfield 10 years ago when he bagged an impressive 22 goals in his first season alongside the prolific Michael Owen after being signed by Houllier for £11million from Leicester City.

Ironically, Heskey immediately found his golden touch in Houllier’s first game in charge of Villa on Wednesday when he scored one and set up two Ashley Young goals as a second half substitute in the side’s 3-1 Carling Cup (Villa 7/1 Outright) win against Blackburn Rovers.

And the 32-year-old is now backing Houllier to emulate his record at Liverpool – where he won an FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup treble in 2000-01 – to bring some long-awaited success to the Villains.

Ahead of Houllier’s first Premier League game in charge at Wolves on Sunday (Wolves 17/10, Villa 7/5, draw 12/5 90 Minutes), Heskey said: “It’s nice to be reunited with the manager. I know all about him and fingers crossed he will bring good times back to Villa.

“He did brilliantly at Liverpool and I am sure he can do the same here.

“He has many qualities and discipline on and off the park is one thing he definitely brings.”

Meanwhile, Heskey is now looking to try and have more of an impact with Villa, where he has struggled to play regular first-team football since being snapped up from Wigan in January 2009.

He added: “I’ve been working hard in training to be ready for when called upon.

“Even when (caretaker manager) Kevin MacDonald was in charge, he said ‘make sure you are ready’ so I’ve been working on that.”

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