James Chester: John Terry will be a huge influence at Aston Villa

The performance of new-look centre-back pairing Chester and Terry was among the biggest positives as Villa opened the season on Saturday with an otherwise frustrating 1-1 draw against Hull.

Five-time Premier League winner Terry opted to drop down into the Championship to help lead a promotion charge at Villa, after calling time on a 22-year Chelsea career which also included a Champions League win.

And Chester said: “You can see why he's at a top club for so long and won so many things.

“What difference can he make? That’s quite easy to answer.

“It's that winning mentality he's had throughout his career and the demands he asks for every day are going to be huge.”

Jarrod Bowen’s second half equaliser, which cancelled out Gabriel Agbonlahor’s opener, denied Terry a debut clean sheet, though it was evident he and Wales international Chester have developed a strong understanding at the back.

“When you're playing with a top player it makes things a lot easier,” said Chester. “I think we were fairly solid last season and we started off in the same vein.

“I felt Saturday went really well – I think that's the first goal we've conceded when we've played together in a game so hopefully it can get stronger and stronger.

“He's been a top player for so many years and you know what you're going to get from him.”

Chester is confident Villa are well placed to make a promotion challenge this season and saw plenty encouragement in Saturday’s performance, if not the result.

“We're all very confident we can achieve what we want to at this club, which is to get promoted,” he added.

“I think if you look at the squad we've got, it's probably the best in the league and I think we've shown enough in pre-season that we can achieve what we set out to do.

“I think it would be worrying if it was like last season and weren't creating chances. But I think we created a lot and if we continue like that then we'll win more games than we draw.”