WANDERERS have been warned that they will be facing potential Premiership champions at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Villa midfield ace Lee Hendrie believes he has just pledged his future to a team that possesses the quality to mount a serious title challenge.

Hendrie ended months of speculation about his future last week when he put pen to paper on a new five-year contract and insisted: "We can compete with the best."

The contract is understood to be worth around £20,000 a week - considerably less than Villa's big money earners - but it will still land him around £5 million over five years.

In that time the Birmingham-born midfielder hopes to have collected honours at both club and internattional level with England.

He said: "Everything is going magnificently well and I want to keep it going until the end of the season.

"I'd love to say that at the end of the season we were Premier League champions.

"It is certainly in my sights and it would be fantastic for us to win the title. People have seen us do well against Manchester United and Liverpool already this season and we are on a great run. It will be great to extend that throughout the season and, with the squad of players we have got, there is every chance that we can."

Villa boss John Gregory believes Hendrie is currently in the most consistent form of his career after claiming he had "grown up and matured" and pushing for more international recognition.

As for his England aspirations, Hendrie admitted: "The gaffer (Gregory) gives me the nod before games and says Sven (Goran Eriksson) is here'.

"He is pushing me and I'm going out in every game aiming to do well. If that continues then hopefully I will get a shot at the England team again.

"It is just a question of whether Mr Eriksson fancies me or not as a player. It would be brilliant to get a chance and it would top everything off for me.

"Any kind of recognition, whether as a direct call-up or on stand-by, would top it off a treat for me.

"I'm pushing to stay in the Villa team, to score goals and create goals and if I continue to do that I hope it pushes me towards the England set-up.

"But in the short term, now that I have signed my contract I can go into games feeling completely fresh, a bit like a new signing."