ALEX McLeish has hinted that diamonds might not be forever.

Aston Villa’s diamond 4-1-2-1-2 formation produced a winning performance against Wigan at Villa Park on Saturday.

It seemed to suit playmaker Barry Bannan and his midfield colleagues Stiliyan Petrov, Fabian Delph and Stephen Ireland.

But McLeish will continue his policy of studying the claret and blues’ next opponents before deciding on the system for each game.

Asked if the diamond formation has given him something to think about, McLeish replied: “It depends who you are playing. It’s horses for courses, but we had some great interplay from Ireland, Barry, Stan, Delphy, the strikers.

“These guys were all I thought at a very good level which helped us win the match.”

McLeish tried the diamond formation in an attempt to pair Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent up front without weakening his midfield or leaving the defence exposed.

“You have to get the midfield right if you are playing a two up front,” he explained.

“Sometimes you can be exposed in central midfield with an extra midfielder playing against you.

“A lot of teams will strive to get control of the midfield, enabling you to control the game and tempo.