Sunday 11 March 2018 09:04, UK
Aston Villa striker Jonathan Kodjia will return to training on Monday but remains a doubt for the rest of the season and will definitely not be involved for the derby visit of Wolves.
The striker has been sidelined with an ankle problem since October, having initially broken the same ankle last April. Glenn Whelan is likely to be out for the next few weeks after sustaining a calf injury in Tuesday's 3-0 win at Sunderland.
Alan Hutton and Axel Tuanzebe (both hamstring) are missing for Steve Bruce's promotion-chasing side.
Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves will return from suspension for the trip to Villa Park. The £15million record signing has missed the last two games after collecting 10 bookings.
Bright Enobakhare is still a doubt with an unspecified injury for the Sky Bet Championship leaders. Romain Saiss, who scored in Wednesday's 3-0 win at Leeds, is one caution away from a two-game ban.
Aston Villa have lost just one of their last 12 home matches against Wolves in all competitions (W8 D3), a 1-0 defeat in the Premier League in March 2011.
Wolves have won three of their last six meetings with Villa - as many as in their previous 32 games combined in all competitions.
Steve Bruce has never lost a home league match in the second tier against Wolves (P7 W3 D4 L0).
Wolves haven't completed a league double over Aston Villa since the 1962/63 campaign when the teams competed in the top-flight.
The two players to score in the most Championship games this season without losing are Wolves' Diogo Jota (11) and Aston Villa's Albert Adomah (10).
On the day of this game, Wolves will have been top of the Championship for 113 consecutive days, the longest run since Leicester between December 2013 and May 2014 (129 days in a row).
Wolves answered some of their critics with a convincing win at Leeds on Wednesday night but a trip to Villa Park is a totally different proposition for them.
Aston Villa are in great form at the moment and they will be hoping to close the gap on the league leaders with victory here and boost their own hopes of automatic promotion. I'm backing an entertaining draw.
Prutton predicts: 2-2 with Lewis Grabban to score first (80/1 with Sky Bet)
