Aston Villa play host to Martin Jol’s Fulham side at Villa Park this afternoon and right now the two sides form couldn’t be much different.
The home side have failed to win in the last five games and they haven’t won on home turf since November 5th. Fulham on the other hand currently sit 8th in the league following three wins on the bounce.
The pressure on Alex McLeish just continues to rise, despite this being described as a transition season, Villa fans are becoming very impatient.
Team news
Aston Villa: Villa don’t have any new injury worries and the side that started in the draw against Blackburn at Ewood Park last weekend is fully expected to start.
Darren Bent began his road to recovery following surgery on Monday night, and is expected to be missing for three months.
Richard Dunne (collarbone), Fabian Delph (ankle) and Ciaran Clark (knee) will also miss out.
Fulham: Bryan Ruiz could be included in the starting line up after recovering from a virus that kept him out of last weekends 5-0 smashing of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Former Villan Aarron Hughes is struggling with a calf problem, so new signing Mahamadou Diarra could start.
Stephen Kelly (right quad), Steve Sidwell (hernia) and Zdenek Grygera (knee ligaments) all remain on the sidelines.
Quick Statistics
Venue: Villa Park, Birmingham
Tickets: £20 – £37 (Buy Tickets)
Kick Off: 15.00 GMT
Last corresponding Meeting: Aston Villa 2 Fulham 2
Did You Know: Fulham have only beaten Aston Villa in the last 10 meetings.
Possible Starting XI:
Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Cuellar, Warnock, Petrov, Herd, Albrighton, Ireland, N’Zogbia, Agbonlahor.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Baird, Senderos, Hangeland, JA Riise, Duff, Murphy, Dembele, Dempsey, Ruiz, Pogrenbnyak.
