Aston Villa have hit a real run of form in the Championship and you have to wonder had Steve Bruce's side showed this ability earlier on in the campaign, whether they'd be missing it with the likes of Leeds United instead of Brentford and Barnsley.

But thanks to a decent spike in results, any relegation fears have been waved away and now, attention turns to next season and the need to make a very real push for the Premier League.

The pressure is on Steve Bruce and his players next time around but there's one man we think could hold the key to any success for the side next season.

The man in question?

£1.7million-rated Conor Hourihane, who we're arguably still waiting to see the best of after his January transfer from Barnsley.

The 26-year-old had been in superb form for the Tykes earlier on this campaign, gaining assist after assist as some of the top sides in the division started to track his progress.

But his move to the Midlands hasn't been as easy as perhaps first expected and he's not been performing to the same levels that we saw at Oakwell at the start of the season.

But there's absolutely no doubt in the slightest if we see that sort of form early on next season, Hourihane will be a massive part of any Aston Villa success next season.

With a good pre-season and a strong run of results before the campaign starts comes consistency and for Aston Villa, they need to create a backbone before the season really gets underway.

And there's absolutely no reason why Hourihane shouldn't be a part of that and eventually, get into the Premier League.