Preston North End vs Aston Villa. Sky Bet Championship.
DeepdaleAttendance14,212.
Wednesday 1 November 2017 18:48, UK
Aston Villa striker Jonathan Kodjia faces a late fitness test ahead of their trip to Preston North End on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Football.
The Ivorian limped off in Villa's 0-0 draw with rivals Birmingham City on Sunday, and the club confirmed his ankle injury will continue to be assessed, adding that the early prognosis was "encouraging".
Preston may have slipped down the Sky Bet Championship table after a four-game winless run, but they can take heart from last season's performances against Villa - where they picked up four points.
Jordan Hugill scored three times against Villa in the last campaign, and this time around the striker is relishing the prospect of facing John Terry on Wednesday evening.
"You see someone like John Terry, he's a Champions League winner, he's won almost everything in English football - if not everything," Hugill told the club's website.
"It's something that you want to test yourself against the best players and, for me, there's no better challenge than testing myself against an ex-England captain."
Preston will be without captain Paul Huntington through suspension for the visit of Aston Villa.
Huntington's absence leaves North End even shorter in defence with Ben Davies, Tommy Spurr, Tom Clarke and Greg Cunningham all out injured.
Davies is the latest casualty after having an operation to remove his appendix on Saturday which will keep him out of action for a few weeks.
Midfielder Alan Browne is available after a one-match ban. Mile Jedinak is still recovering from a groin problem and Gabriel Agbonlahor has a calf tear.
Henri Lansbury (knee) and Jack Grealish (kidney) played for Villa's under-23 side on Monday to step up their comebacks from injury.
Preston didn't lose either of their league matches against Villa last season (W1 D1), with those games their first league encounters with the Villans since the 1973/74 campaign.
Steve Bruce has lost all three managerial visits to Deepdale by a 1-0 scoreline, doing so with Birmingham in March 2002 and May 2007 and Hull in December 2015.
Aston Villa have won one of their last 15 away league games in the month of November (D8 L6).
Villa have won 23 points from their opening 14 matches - their best start to a league season since 2008/09 (24 points from 14 matches) when they were competing in the Premier League.
Scott Hogan scored his only Football League hat-trick against Preston in September last year when he was playing for Brentford. However, Hogan has failed to net in 818 Championship minutes for Villa with his last goal coming back in March last season against Wigan Athletic.
Preston looked right up there a few weeks ago but have started to tail off a bit. They always fancy their chances at home against the big sides, though, especially on a cold midweek night, and Alex Neil and Co will be right up for this one.
Aston Villa could have won the Second City derby on Sunday with the chances they had late on, but it was a tough game and this will be another tough one for them. Score draw for me.
Prutton predicts: 1-1 with Albert Adomah to score first (35/1 with Sky Bet)
