Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke is ready to give his side's impressive start to the season a further shot in the arm as he pushes to start his first match since March.

The Belgian suffered a ruptured Achilles in early April which has kept him out of action and forced him to miss the World Cup.

Villa have taken a solid ten points from their opening seven Barclays Premier League games while Benteke worked his way towards fitness.

However, his return as a substitute in the 2-0 defeat by Manchester City last time out was a positive step and a start for Villa at Everton today would be a huge boost to the team.

"Christian is pushing to start," said manager Paul Lambert.

"I said at the time that the international break would come at a good time for him, because that gave him another couple of weeks to train with the team, and we had a (behind-closed-doors) game here against Leicester that he scored in so that gave him a lift as well."

Lambert also hopes to welcome back captain Ron Vlaar, who has been struggling with his troublesome calf but was given a clean bill of health this week.

"It's great," Lambert said.

"He went out of the team at a really good point for him, the way he was playing, and it was a blow for us that he pulled up injured.

"It's good to have him back, that's really good. If everything is all right tomorrow then Ron will travel."

The return of two key figures is particularly timely for Lambert considering he is likely to be without two others, in Fabian Delph and Philippe Senderos, for the trip to Goodison Park.

Delph injured his shoulder on Tuesday and Lambert admitted he had "probably" dislocated it, although the club were still unable to announce a verdict yesterday afternoon. Senderos, meanwhile, has a thigh injury.