Aston Villa attacker Andreas Weimann has revealed that Christian Benteke's return from an Achilles injury has given the squad "a big lift".

The Belgium international had been out of action since April, but he stepped up his recovery on Monday afternoon by scoring in an Under-21 encounter against Bolton Wanderers.

With the 23-year-old potentially available to feature against Manchester City at the weekend, Weimann has conceded that it is "great" to have the striker back.

"It's been great to have Christian back with the group. He came back into training a couple of weeks ago and that was a big lift for everybody, to have Christian fully involved again and training with the lads," he told the club's official website.

"It must have been brilliant for him, too, because it's been a long journey, six months of hard work to get back involved. It's hard to be out for just one or two weeks through injury, so to be out for that length of time is a real test of character.

"All you want to do is play football, it's what we all love to do, so not being able to do that for any length of time is massively frustrating. Christian had a big smile on his face when he walked out with the lads again that first morning he was back and he was able to play in the Under-21 game on Monday."

Benteke scored 34 goals in his first two seasons with Villa.