Aston Villa's Stiliyan Petrov says a newfound aggression has helped spark his man-of-the-match form.

Petrov's display was a key factor in his side's impressive 4-0 win over Blackburn at Ewood Park on Wednesday.

Petrov had a dream debut for Villa in 2006 and has shown flashes of brilliance since but has failed to find any real consistency until now.

The Bulgaria international turned in one of his best performances in claret and blue as the engine of Martin O'Neill's side as they demolished Rovers.

He now feels he is becoming a better player having adjusted to the cut and thrust of the Premier League.

The 28-year-old admitted he had been working on his game since joining Villa from, Celtic as one of O'Neill's first signings.

"For a couple of months, I lost the anger in my game but now I feel I am playing again with more aggression, making more tackles and creating more," said Petrov. "I feel I am now back to normal.

"I have been working hard and I think my confidence is back as well and I just hope I can keep going now and continue contributing to the team."

Petrov admitted Villa had taken time to get out of second gear against Rovers just as they had in their previous three games against Birmingham City, Bolton and Middlesbrough.

"Overall as a team we were a little bit sloppy the way we started off, losing possession and taking time to get hold of the game," he said.

"But once we got a grip of things and began to move the ball about we looked a different team.

"I don't think many people expected us to go to Blackburn, which is a very tough place to go, and come away with a win like we did.

"But we went there and scored four goals so it was a massive boost to our confidence and we now need to go on feeling we can do it more and more.

"We won the Middlesbrough game 3-0 and now we have beaten Blackburn 4-0 and we have found that we can do things right. We just have to be patient and keep working hard.

"As a team we are definitely working harder than ever and it seems to be starting to pay off."

Petrov felt Villa deserved the early break and a penalty awarded by referee Phil Dowd against Blackburn after their skipper Ryan Nelsen was judged to have fouled Gabriel Agbonlahor when he was through on goal. The Blackburn player was subsequently shown the red card.

Petrov added: "That was a definite penalty. Gabby was the one in charge of the ball and then he was tugged down by his shirt by the Blackburn player.

"I would never comment on a referee's decision but sometimes they get things right, sometimes they get things wrong, and I think in that instance he was correct.

"That goal got us started and we went on to win the game and that is all that matters.

"There was also a second penalty shout which I thought was even more of a penalty when Ashley Young was brought down.

"Sometimes you get penalties, sometimes you don't but we kept going and in the second half more goals were to come."

Petrov was also full of praise for Villa's back four.

"Our defence have been keeping clean sheets and helping us all and that is the difference this season," he said.

"Once again in the Blackburn game we didn't play that well in the first 15- 20 minutes but after that we played much better, scored a goal and pushed on from there."

Petrov insists it is still too early to start getting carried away with notions of a place in Europe this season but says things are going the right way at the moment.

"It is too early and we shouldn't get carried away but it is important now that we keep going for the rest of the season and hopefully we can keep going the way we are at the moment," he said.