Dean Smith: Jack Grealish can be Aston Villa's captain for years to come

Grealish, who skippered Villa for the first time in last weekend’s 4-0 win over Derby, will keep the armband as they go in search of a crucial three points against rivals Blues.

Boss Smith believes the 23-year-old is an emerging leader in a Villa team who still harbour hopes of a late play-off charge.

He said: “The captaincy role is quite important for me. I said after the game last week I believe we have a number of leaders in the group.

“But Jack for me fits the bill at the moment. He is a potential leader and captain of this club for the future.

“If I was to give it to one of the other leaders I might be overlooking him and stopping his growth.

“He’ll certainly be captain if he starts on Sunday. He’s a player who has come through system, been in our academy, and will relish that armband.”

Smith is confident Grealish, who will be playing at St Andrew’s for the first time in his career, can handle both the emotional and physical nature of the contest.

Despite missing nearly three months of the season due to injury, he remains the Championship’s most fouled player and came in for rough treatment during November’s first meeting between the rivals.

Grealish’s return saw Villa win for just the third time in 15 league games when they hammered the Rams but Smith has been keen to play down the idea of them being a one-man team.

He said: “Jack would be the first one to say it was the performance of his team-mates as much as him which was to do with the win last week.

“He has great vision, as we saw for the first goal. But to have great vision you have to have a great run, as we saw from Tammy Abraham, with Conor Hourihane following it up.

“For his finish for the corner you have to have a great ball, which he got from Glenn Whelan. It is a team game.

“What he did was give everyone a lift. He is one of the top players in this league and would get in any team. To lose him for as long as we did was tough for us.”