Steve Bruce: Aston Villa can cope with call ups

Villa will be without top scorer Jonathan Kodjia and strike partner Jordan Ayew for several matches when the pair take part in next month's tournament.

There also remains, meanwhile, an outside possibility in-form winger Albert Adomah could receive a call from Ghana.

Responding to questions on the latter, Bruce replied: "We are aware of all situations. I have four weeks to think about the next four weeks and let me worry about that.

"If he (Adomah) gets called up there is nothing I can do about it. It is the form he is in. If it happens I am convinced we have a strong enough squad to cope."

The trip to Cardiff on January 2 is expected to be the final league game for Ivory Coast forward Kodjia and Ghana's Ayew. Both players are set to miss at least three matches, depending on how far their respective countries progress in the tournament, which takes place in Gabon.

Ross McCormack and Rudy Gestede, two players who have found their chances limited of late, will both be expected to step up along with Gabriel Agbonlahor, who has made a surprise return to the first-team fold under Bruce.

Villa are also set to be active during the January transfer window. Though Bruce's immediate focus remains upcoming games, the manager confirmed last week he and owner Tony Xia held a "brief conversation" over the plans.

He said: "If there's somebody in January that can make us better, we are prepared to act. There won't be wholesale changes because we've just seen that in the summer.

"It's inevitable that one or two will come in and one or two will go out, but I wouldn't envisage any more than that."