Aston Villa kick-off a derby-tastic week with the visit of local rivals West Bromwich Albion to Villa Park.

Villa have an intriguing Capital One Cup clash to look forward to on Tuesday night against Birmingham but they must take care of domestic matters first in what should be a feisty affair.

A pitch invasion marred Villa's victory over West Brom in the last meeting between the teams as they celebrated getting to the FA Cup semi-finals and in the past 18 meetings, eight players have been sent off.

Tim Sherwood was highly critical of his Villa side after they let a two-goal lead slip to lose 3-2 to Leicester last weekend and will be looking for a response.

West Brom picked up a point against Southampton last weekend, drawing 0-0, and are unbeaten in their three away games this season.

Team news

Aston Villa could be without Idrissa Gana (hamstring), Carles Gil, Adama Traore (both calf) and Jose Angel Crespo (knee) for the visit of the Baggies.

Jonny Evans was taken off late against Southampton but he's set to make his second appearance for West Brom since signing from Manchester United.

Tony Pulis could also be a recall for Saido Berahino, who played 35 minutes from the bench against the Saints.

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Opta stats

Aston Villa have won two of their last three Barclays Premier League games with WBA and have lost just one of their last seven against them (W2 D4 L1).

The Baggies have lost just one of their last six Premier League matches on the road (W3 D2 L1) keeping four clean sheets in that run.

At Villa Park, both sides have scored in all but one of their nine Premier League meetings (0-0 in April 2006).

Gabriel Agbonlahor has scored more goals in this Premier League fixture than other any player (four goals).

Rickie Lambert has scored four goals in six Premier League appearances against Villa.

West Brom have the lowest shooting accuracy in the Premier League this season, hitting the target with just 34 per cent of their attempts.

West Brom have had the oldest starting XI on average this season in the Premier League (29y 206d).

Merson's prediction

This is a huge derby, but not as big as Villa's clash with Birmingham midweek! I am going to go with Villa. Losing 3-2 at Leicester after being two goals up will affect them, but they are a young team and they will learn from their experience.

I think Villa will just have too much for them. I think West Brom are going to struggle. They were lucky against Southampton. They have to get Saido Berahino back in the team. There is no point chopping off their nose to spite their face, they need him.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (Sky Bet odds 17/2) 

Betting

Aston Villa are Sky Bet's 13/10 favourites to secure three points against local rivals West Brom (23/10), with the draw available at 21/10. Villa have won the last two meetings on home soil by exactly one goal and are 11/4 to prevail by the same margin on Saturday. The Baggies have scored only three goals in their opening five matches and can be backed at 9/2 to win and under 2.5 goals in the match.  Sky Sports football pundit Matt Le Tissier is tipping Villa to edge it 1-0 with Jack Grealish netting the only goal, the scorecast paying 28/1.