It’s fair to say that the first eleven months of Scott Hogan’s Aston Villa career were a disaster following his big-money move from Brentford.

The 25-year old made the move from Griffin Park on January 31 last year having enjoyed a prolific first half of the season for the Bees.

Villa thought they were signing the man who would form a devastating partnership with Jonathan Kodjia and score the goals to take the side back to the Premier League.

However, fast forward to December 31 and Hogan had played over 30 Championship games for Steve Bruce’s side and scored just the one goal.

Therefore, his turnaround since New Year’s Day has been both surprising and phenomenal and the player deserves all the credit.

Hogan heads into the Second City derby this afternoon with five goals in his last five games and has been a major reason in their run of six successive wins that has dragged Villa from play-off hopefuls to top two contenders.

Whilst you could argue he is finally doing what Villa expected of him, it would be unfair not to acknowledge the mental strength Hogan has shown to resurrect his career in the West Midlands.

The player had been written off by almost everyone, he’d been dropped and criticised by fans, as you would expect.

In fact, if Jonathan Kodjia was fit and available there’s a strong possibility that Hogan may have moved on in the window last month.

The ex-Bristol City man will probably miss the remainder of the season yet Hogan has softened that blow in recent weeks.

Bruce understandably added to his options in attack in January with the arrival of Lewis Grabban and he could be vital for the run-in.

However, it will be Hogan that is the main man this afternoon and he deserves plenty of credit for how he has saved his Villa career.

Thoughts, Villa fans? Let us know in the comments below.