Aston Villa vs Sunderland Preview

The Ghana international shrugged off a hamstring problem to score as a substitute in Saturday's 3-0 win over Blackburn, but is suffering from the after-effects of his exertions and a toe injury.

Winger Ahmed Elmohamady is also being monitored after receiving a bang to the head in the Blackburn game, while skipper Lee Cattermole (back) is being rested for a month on medical advice.

Nedum Onuoha (hamstring) and John Mensah (ankle) are likely to miss out once again, while Michael Turner and Fraizer Campbell (both knee) are still on the casualty list.

Villa boss Gerard Houllier has no fresh injury concerns.

Houllier is considering whether to keep faith with the side which earned an impressive 3-3 draw with champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Youngster Ciaran Clark is likely to keep his place at left-back in place of the axed England defender Stephen Warnock after scoring a last-gasp equaliser.

Midfielder Fabian Delph and right-back Luke Young are still sidelined with knee problems.

Teams

Aston Villa (from): Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Clark, Downing, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Marshall, Albrighton, Pires, Delfouneso, Bannan, Lichaj, Herd, Hogg, Warnock.

Sunderland (from): Gordon, Mignolet, Bardsley, Richardson, Angeleri, Ferdinand, Bramble, Da Silva, Meyler, Riveros, Henderson, Malbranque, Elmohamady, Welbeck, Zenden, Bent, Gyan, Adams, Cook, Reed.