Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game and is considering whether to keep faith with the side which earned an impressive 3-3 draw at Chelsea on Sunday.
Youngster Ciaran Clark is likely to keep his place at left-back in place of the axed England defender Stephen Warnock after scoring a last-gasp equaliser.
Midfielder Fabian Delph and right-back Luke Young are still sidelined with knee problems.
Asamoah Gyan is a doubt for Sunderland, having shrugged off a hamstring problem to score as a substitute in Saturday's 3-0 win over Blackburn. The Ghanian is suffering from the after-effects of his exertions and a toe injury.
Ahmed Elmohamady is also being monitored after receiving a bang to the head in the Blackburn game, while Lee Cattermole (back) is being rested for a month on medical advice.
Nedum Onuoha (hamstring) and John Mensah (ankle) are likely to miss out once again, while Michael Turner and Fraizer Campbell (both knee) are still on the casualty list.
Aston Villa (from): Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Clark, Downing, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Marshall, Albrighton, Pires, Delfouneso, Bannan, Lichaj, Herd, Hogg, Warnock.
Sunderland (from): Gordon, Mignolet, Bardsley, Richardson, Angeleri, Ferdinand, Bramble, Da Silva, Meyler, Riveros, Henderson, Malbranque, Elmohamady, Welbeck, Zenden, Bent, Gyan, Adams, Cook, Reed.
