Former Aston Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu believes that Ciaran Clark has shown "good promise" in his performances for the West Midlands club.

The 23-year-old has played a pivotal part in Villa's impressive form in recent weeks and Ehiogu has heaped praise on the Republic of Ireland defender's temperament during his spell as one of the club's first-choice defenders.

Ehiogu told the Birmingham Mail: "I think he's showed some good promise. It's always tough because you're putting a youngster in with not a great deal of experience and there's several of them in there at the moment in the spine of the team.

"He's kind of learning as he's playing right now which is not ideal, but I think he's handled himself really well.

"Who else could come in if he wasn't there? It's all about numbers and what you've got and I think Ciaran Clark thoroughly deserves his place."

Clark came in for praise from manager Paul Lambert for his performance against Liverpool last weekend.