Returning Ross Barkley told to battle for Aston Villa starting spot

The on loan Chelsea star will return to training on Wednesday following a hamstring injury and is in contention to feature when Crystal Palace visit Villa Park on Boxing Day.

Barkley scored two goals in five appearances before being forced to sit out the last four matches.

Villa, who will also have Ezri Konsa back available following illness, have coped admirably in his absence, taking seven of the last nine points available to sit within striking distance of the Premier League pacesetters.

Asked where Barkley now fits into the team, Smith replied: "It's for Ross to get back into the team, and he'll know that.

"It was a really good performance on Sunday against West Brom and followed on from a really good performance against Burnley.

"I want the problem of having top players like Barkley and Konsa coming back to full fitness and pushing me in terms of getting back into the starting line up."

Centre-back Konsa is also due back in training on Wednesday after missing the last two matches through illness.

Villa kept clean sheets in both with Kortney Hause drafted in alongside Tyrone Mings at the heart of defence and Smith believes the past week has demonstrated the strength of his squad.

"I believed this was our strongest squad yet when we added the five players in the summer, I think the last two matches have proved the squad depth is there,” he said.

"We had four new starters against Burnley in (Kortney) Hause, (Anwar) El Ghazi, Ahmed Elmohamady and Marvelous Nakamba, and they all played really well in that game.

"Kortney and El Ghazi have continued that along with Traore who's probably only played 300 minutes or so this season, he played really well against Albion too.

“We've proved we have that depth and the ones who haven't been regular starters this season have shown they're ready to take their chances when the opportunity comes around."