Gabriel Agbonlahor hopes to win the boot battle when Arsenal and Aston Villa meet up

Dec 20 2008 By Mat Kendrick

and his clinical volley against Bolton last Saturday are signs that his confidence is high.

“I think that was a special day,” said Agbonlahor. “Seasons before if a Villa side went to Arsenal’s ground you wouldn’t expect much.

“But to come away from there with a 2-0 victory and stopping them from scoring, everyone was over the moon with it.

“When I was coming up through the youth team I’d watch those games and we’d concede two or three goals.

“We used to get beat quite easily against top teams. But nowadays you look at our results and we look decent against them.

“Sometimes things come off and sometimes they don’t and on that day things came off for me so I was happy – it was a good performance.

“I was playing on the last man and I saw it kicked over the top so I thought I’d get an early shot off and luckily it went in.

“Probably at the beginning of the season or last season I’d be hitting that ball and it would be rolling off to the corner flag!”

With a first England cap in the bag a goals tally well on the way to being his best ever and a six-month old son, Gabriel junior, 2008 has been a vintage year for Agbonlahor.

But in terms of Christmas presents, what do you get the superstar footballer who’s got everything? A festive treble or a £900,000 ultimate sports car, perhaps.

“A hat-trick against Arsenal would be nice, but if not maybe a Bugatti will do instead!”