Remi Garde believes that he is making slow progress at Aston Villa and that there is hope yet that the Birmingham side can escape the dreaded drop out of the Premier League.

The Frenchman bases that optimism on his side taking four points from their last two matches against Crystal Palace and Leicester.

Villa are still nine points adrift of safety, compared to just four when Tim Sherwood departed as manager, but ahead of the Cup third-round replay against League Two promotion hopefuls Wycombe on Tuesday night Garde thinks he is starting to turn things around.

"You ask if it took a while to get across to my players what I wanted to do and probably it did. And maybe my message did not go through to everybody. But now I find people who understand my message," he said.

"The way we played, the spirit we showed and the way we have come through a difficult period in the last two games has pleased me. They were not easy because we were up against teams who were full of confidence, when we were not.

"I'm very happy with the way we've played the last two games. It pleased me a lot because it means that the players I picked have a good attitude."

Garde is relatively new to management, having taken his only other job with French club Lyon in 2011, but the former Arsenal midfielder has shown the strength of mind to leave out established players at Villa Park.

Striker Gabby Agbonlahor, the club's longest-serving player, has made only one two-minute appearance since Garde took over at the beginning of November and those named only as substitutes against Leicester on Saturday included club captain Micah Richards and previous first-choice goalkeeper Brad Guzan.