New Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood will be hoping to make an instant impact and lead his new side to what would be their first win after ten Premiership matches. Meanwhile, injury-hit Stoke hope to make amends for back to back 4-1 defeats to City and Blackburn, with both sides pretty low on confidence at the moment.

FA Cup run continues

While sacking Paul Lambert after a ten-match winless run in the Premier League was the logical thing to do, the former Celtic coach is clearly not the only one to blame for some disappointing results. Nevertheless, the reality is he has failed to get the maximum out of his side in recent months, and the arrival of Tim Sherwood is likely to bring an air of confidence to Villa Park. Aston Villa only need a couple of good results in a row to turn things around and having qualified for the FA Cup quarter-finals by defeating Leicester City 2-1 last weekend, they will see the game against severely weakened Stoke as a perfect opportunity to kick-start their league campaign. In spite of the dismal run, the Villans only sit in the bottom three due to inferior goal difference to QPR and it would appear as though they have enough quality to turn things around. The return of Agbonlahor and Gil as well as the arrival of Scott Sinclair, who restored some of the lost confidence by scoring against Leicester, should help Aston Villa finally show some improvement up front.

Nathan Baker and Philippe Senderos face fitness tests, but Gabby Agbonlahor and Carles Gil are available for selection.

Tough times for Stoke

Stoke have played some great football under Mark Hughes, who remains determined to transform his new side into a team that is exciting to watch, but numerous injuries to important players appear to be taking the wind out of their sails. Everybody at the club was disappointed to see in-form Bojan Krkic suffer a season-ending injury after finally starting to prove his worth in the Premier League, while Hughes now faces a defensive headache as well, with a number of first team defenders either out injured or struggling for fitness. It was, therefore, not surprising to see the Potters suffer a 4-1 home defeat to Premier League holders Manchester City, but the 4-1 FA Cup loss to Blackburn definitely served as a major blow to the players’ confidence. Stoke took the lead through Peter Crouch at Ewood Park, but then allowed the Championship side to score four goals and in turn saw their good FA Cup run come to an abrupt end. With the team in very low spirits at the moment and the squad stripped to bare bones, the Potters could find it hard to match very motivated Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.

Bojan Krkic, Marc Muniesa, Steven Ireland and Peter Odemwingie are out injured, whilst Jonathan Walters, Ryan Shawcross, Marc Wilson and Eric Pieters are rated doubtful. Geoff Cameron is banned.

Verdict

The FA Cup triumph over Leicester City certainly improved the spirits at Villa Park and the hosts are also expected to show a positive response to the appointment of Tim Sherwood. Stoke, on the other hand, are in problems after two heavy defeats and they will struggle to cope with so many important missings.

Top pick: Aston Villa Draw no bet   1.95 (19/20) @ Coral

Alternative pick 1: Under 2.5 goals   1.65 (13/20) @ Ladbrokes

Alternative pick 2: Home win   2.75 (7/4) @ Betfred