Premier League preview: Aston Villa v Sunderland

Sunderland travel to Birmingham on Wednesday to face an Aston Villa side that have found themselves in the midst of a relegation battle.

The Black Cats make the trip to Villa Park sitting sixth and looking to consolidate their push for a place in Europe, while Aston Villa are languishing on the verge of the drop zone in 15th.

Villa’s standing is a far cry from last season’s sixth-place finish, which included a trip to Wembley for the Carling Cup final.

While the Birmingham club were not expected to repeat the successes of last season given the departure of James Milner and the shock resignation of former manager Martin O’Neill, few pundits would have envisioned that they would flounder to such a degree.

Gerard Houllier’s side have picked up just four points from their last six matches in a dreadful run that included a 4-0 humbling at Milner’s new club Manchester City.

On the up side, their most recent point was taken from a thrilling 3-3 draw at Chelsea on Sunday.

Some Ciaran Clark heroics were required to salvage a point at Stamford Bridge, and Houllier will be eager to use that momentum to charge his side up the standings.

Defence is a major concern for the former Liverpool boss, however, with Villa having allowed three or more goals in four of their past six matches, while they have not kept a clean sheet in 10.

The manner in which Houllier’s back four cope with Sunderland’s dynamic attacking trio of Darren Bent, Danny Welbeck and Asamoah Gyan will be crucial to deciding the outcome of the encounter.

In team news, Luke Young and Andreas Weimann are on the injury list for Villa, while John Mensah could return for the Black Cats after overcoming an ankle problem.