Aston Villa will hope to kickstart their season as they host League One Tranmere in the second round of the Capital One Cup.

Karim El Ahmadi

Paul Lambert has endured a disappointing time since taking charge at Villa Park, losing his first two Barclays Premier League matches. Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Everton – after having a man sent off – particularly set alarm bells ringing and Villa will be keen to secure a morale-boosting win against Rovers.

Summer signing Karim El Ahmadi, who struck the consolation against the Toffees, said: “We have to prepare quick because on Tuesday we have another game and we have to win. We have to show some character as a team and as players. We are professionals and we have to stand up.”

El Ahmadi, signed in a £2million deal from Feyenoord, admitted his first goal for the club was hardly something he could celebrate, coming with the team already 3-0 down.

The Morocco midfielder told the club’s official website, www.avfc.co.uk: “In the second half I was playing more behind the strikers and trying to get near them and the ball was following me.

“I had the opportunity to shoot on goal and I think it was a good goal, but I’d rather be winning than scoring a goal.”

Everton scored all three of their goals in the first half and Villa’s misery was compounded when defender Ciaran Clark was dismissed for fouling Nikica Jelavic.

El Ahmadi believes Villa need to forget about what happened in the first half and find positives from their later resilience.

He said: “I think in the second half we worked hard and tried to do something, especially with 10 men. Everton were good but we can also say to ourselves that we weren’t sharp at the beginning.

“At 3-0 the game is more or less over but we still tried to score some goals in the second half. We can be disappointed but we have to go forward and think about the next game.”

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