Tim Sherwood has claimed that it "won't be hard" for Aston Villa to improve on last season's disappointing finish in the Premier League.

After arriving in February to replace Paul Lambert, Sherwood managed to collect the points required for Villa to narrowly avoid relegation in 17th place, but he believes that his side should be looking further up the table ahead of the new campaign.

"An improvement on last year is what we're looking for," he told AVTV. "It won't be hard to improve because we were the worst team left in the league.

"We need to consolidate and improve again.

"We need to stay in the league obviously but we're not going to get scared if all of a sudden we're in the top four or five. We know it's a tough ride ahead. Likewise we won't be scared if we're bottom. We know there's a long road ahead."

Villa start the season with a trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.