Jack Grealish in contention for Aston Villa return against Blackburn Rovers
Boss Steve Bruce will weigh up whether to hand Jack Grealish an instant recall as Villa aim to continue their unbeaten run against Blackburn.
The 21-year-old is available for Saturday's game at Villa Park having served a three-match ban for stamping on Wolves midfielder Conor Coady during last month's 1-1 derby draw.
Grealish made his return to action as Villa's under-23s demolished their Blackburn counterparts at Walsall on Monday and could now find himself back in the senior team, with Bruce facing a shortage on the flanks. Jordan Ayew is suspended after picking up a fifth booking of the season while Albert Adomah faces a race to be ready after suffering a dead leg in last weekend's 1-1 draw with Blues.
Owner Tony Xia has meanwhile dismissed as 'nonsense' midfielder Jordan Veretout's claim he was benched last season to avoid triggering an appearance-based payment.
The 23-year-old, who joined Villa from Nantes for an £8million fee in the summer of 2015, didn't feature after March 19 and has now questioned whether that was so the club could avoid paying an add-on fee to his former club.
Randy Lerner was Villa owner at the time but Xia took to Twitter and posted: "Though it was nothing done by our board, I DONT think any previous manager would care about how much club paid bonus. Nonsense."
