Aston Villa v Man Utd preview

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Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov is back for the visit of champions United.

The Bulgarian international missed last Sunday’s goalless draw at Swansea with a hamstring problem but has resumed training.

Fellow midfielder Stephen Ireland is also in contention after missing the trip to Wales with a foot injury suffered in training. Defender Eric Lichaj (hip) remains the only long-term casualty.

United’s Dimitar Berbatov misses out due to an ankle injury picked up in the midweek Carling Cup defeat by Crystal Palace.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said the Bulgarian striker’s injury is not serious, but also revealed that Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio da Silva – who also picked up knocks against Palace – will miss out.

Danny Welbeck is a doubt with a muscle strain while Anderson (knee), Michael Owen (thigh) and Tom Cleverley (ankle) are longer-term absentees.

Villa (from): Given, Guzan, Hutton, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Clark, Warnock, Beye, Herd, Delph, Bannan, Jenas, Petrov, Ireland, Albrighton, Bent, Heskey, Agbonlahor, N’Zogbia, Weimann.

United (from): De Gea, Lindegaard, Smalling, Jones, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Nani, Valencia, Gibson, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Giggs, Young, Rooney, Hernandez.

Aston Villa v Man Utd preview

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Aston Villa are likely to have eight first-team squad members unavailable for the game.

Carlos Cuellar has definitely been ruled out with a calf injury suffered ahead of the midweek win over Blackpool while fellow defender Habib Beye is also struggling after twisting his ankle in the warm-up against the Tangerines.

Stiliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker, John Carew, Emile Heskey, Steve Sidwell and Fabian Delph are out, but striker Gabriel Agbonlahor could come into the starting line-up after making his comeback from groin surgery as a substitute against Blackpool.

Manchester United are hopeful of having Patrice Evra available.

The France full-back limped out of Wednesday’s Manchester derby with an ankle injury, which it was felt would keep him out of the Villa Park encounter.

However, Evra trained on Friday and could be involved, unlike Rafael who is sidelined by a dead leg, and Paul Scholes, who is suspended.

Aston Villa (from): Friedel, Luke Young, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Albrighton, Clark, Bannan, Downing, Ashley Young, Delfouneso, Guzan, Ireland, Agbonlahor, Lichaj, Lowry, Hogg, Johnson, Beye.

United (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Brown, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Smalling, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Obertan, Bebe, Carrick, Gibson, Fletcher, Anderson, Nani, Park, Berbatov, Hernandez, Macheda.