Skip to content

Aston Villa v Preston preview

Image: Nathan Baker: Hoping to return after a hamstring injury

Aston Villa could hand a debut to new signing Henri Lansbury against Preston.

The midfielder joined from Nottingham Forest on Friday on a four-and-a-half-year deal for a fee believed to be around £3million.

Boss Steve Bruce is hopeful Nathan Baker will be fit as the defender has been battling a hamstring strain.

Jonathan Kodjia and Jordan Ayew are both on duty in the African Nations Cup for the Ivory Coast and Ghana respectively.

Greg Cunningham has joined Ben Pearson in being banned for Preston.

Midfielder Pearson completes a two-match suspension having collected 10 yellow cards this term while full-back Cunningham reached that mark last weekend to trigger his own ban.

Tommy Spurr will play instead of Cunningham while Jermaine Beckford is back from a four-game suspension and former Villa midfielder Daniel Johnson has overcome a bout of flu.

Also See:

John Welsh (calf), Calum Woods (knee) and Alex Baptiste (knee) remain sidelined.

Around Sky