Martin Laursen aims to end a season of personal achievements on a high when Villa face West Ham at Upton Park on Sunday.

If as expected he is named in the starting 11, the Danish international defender will have started every single Barclays Premier League game this season.

And that will represent a massive improvement on his previous Villa best of 14 League appearances in a season.

Laursen told www.avfc.co.uk: "I'm very delighted with the season. The aim for me before the season was to play as many games as possible and to try and score more goals than I have done in the past. I've done that as well, I've scored six goals.

"I wanted to get a new contract and got that as well. So I couldn't be more pleased about my situation. I'm happy and proud of my personal season."

Looking at the overall situation, Laursen added: "Obviously it's very positive that we're here and so close to Europe at the end of the season. When you're a big club like Aston Villa the aim is always Europe.

"But there's a lot of other teams in the Premier League with the same aim and it's very hard to do. We have managed to play well all season and now we're still in a good position.

"It's very positive and it's been very positive throughout the whole season. It's nice that we're just one game from the end and we have a chance to go and take fifth place."