Curtis Davies aims to bounce back in style with a dream double this week but admits Villa's new look squad is still a 'work in progress'.

Central defender Davies was hugely disappointed with Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Barclays Premier League newboys Stoke City.

But he knows home victories against Icelandic side FH Hafnarfjordur and Liverpool will go a long way towards making amends for the Britannia Stadium reverse.

He told www.avfc.co.uk: "Just a week ago everything looked rosy after Gabby's hat-trick. But that's what football can do to you. You can never think you've cracked it.

"It was always going to be hard going to a place like Stoke at this stage of the season but we should have been stronger and we're really disappointed. Now we have to put that behind us now because we're going into a big, big week.

"We've still got new players in the team that are trying to gel. We still have work to do all across the pitch but that probably goes for most teams at this stage of the season.

"We're still a work in progress and the manager is still looking to add to the squad before the deadline. So we know we've got a lot of hard work to come."

He added: "Obviously we've got another big game on Thursday in the UEFA Cup and hopefully we can get a few goals like last time to regain a bit of confidence.

"Then it's the big one against Liverpool on Sunday and that's the sort of game we've all got to look forward to.

"That's the standard we're aiming to reach and we're going to have to be at the top of our game to give them a game.

"Stoke played long-ball football and we didn't stand up to that. Liverpool will be nothing like that. They'll be prettier with the ball and we need to be aware of their threats.

"First though we have to finish the job in the UEFA Cup and we won't be going into that match thinking we've already booked a place in the first round. We have to be professional."