Aston Villa v Newcastle: Why Dean Smith's so keen to have Jack Grealish back...

Without the 24-year-old old midfielder Dean Smith’s Villa side average just a point a game.

And after losing their last two Premier League games since Grealish limped off with a calf injury at Manchester City last month, Smith is keen to have him back.

Smith said: “He’s a top player. I stand with (assistant boss) John Terry sometimes and we go ‘Wow!’ at some of the things he does.

“When top players are playing you have a better chance of winning, when top players aren’t playing, you’ve less chance of winning. It’s the same with any top player at any club.”

It will be Bruce’s first return to Villa Park since cabbage-gate.

A disgruntled fan threw the vegetable at the-then Villa boss in the October 2018 defeat to Preston North End.

It would be his last game in charge and Smith, who took over later that month, condemned the incident.

He said: “I thought it was a disgrace. You don’t want to see that in the ground. I said that at the time.

“I was just embarrassed for the person who was bringing a cabbage in there.”

Smith steered Villa back to the Premier League with Bruce joining them after swapping Sheffield Wednesday for Tyneside.

And Smith is expecting the fixture to have some bite. He said: “We have played Steve before at Sheffield Wednesday last season.

“I said when I took the job I have an awful lot of respect for what he has done in management but, more importantly, for how he is as a man as well.

“If you look at Newcastle at the start of the season there were a lot of questions about the club and where it was going. But Steve has gone in and done what he does best – got them organised. They’ve got pace and power up front. They are winning games – they’ve won the last couple – they beat Manchester United at home as well. They are in a good run of form at the moment.”

Smith could have Grealish back with keeper Tom Heaton back in training and centre-half Bjorn Engels also in contention.

And with Villa keen to bounce back from back-to-back 2-1 defeats to Liverpool and Wolves, Smith is keen for them to pick up their third home league win of the season. He said: “Every game we play in this league at Villa Park is big.

“I said at the start of the season that home form is going to be the most important thing this season.

“We’ve performed well so far at home. We were unfortunate against Liverpool in our last home game but our last performance away wasn’t so good and the players certainly got a reminder of that.

“Playing under the lights at Villa Park is always a great evening, especially with a full house and the fans fully behind us.”

Villa are four points behind Newcastle in the bottom half of the table.

And Smith was impressed with their victory at West Ham last time out.

He said: “I watched their game with West Ham and they were outstanding in their counter-attacking. They went 3-0 up and it could have been five or six, such is the pace and power they’ve got in their team. They’ve got a really good organisation as well. Tough to break down but a real threat on the counter.”