Darren Bent is poised to make his debut for Aston Villa after joining from Sunderland in a deal which could eventually be worth up to £24million.
Winger Ashley Young is available after missing the derby with Birmingham through suspension, but striker Emile Heskey will serve the final game of a three-match ban for his sending-off against Sunderland. Defender Luke Young (hip) and midfielder Stephen Ireland (knee) remain on the injury list.
Manchester City, meanwhile, are set to recall Edin Dzeko following his impressive debut against Wolves last weekend. The new signing was ineligible for Tuesday's FA Cup triumph over Leicester.
Kolo Toure, Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry are also in line to get their places back, which should help shore up an uncharacteristically leaky defence that has conceded seven times in the last three games.
Aston Villa (from): Friedel, Walker, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Clark, Albrighton, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Young, Downing, Bannan, Hogg, Bent, Agbonlahor, Delfouneso, Marshall, Pires, Herd, Baker.
Manchester City (from): Hart, Given, Zabaleta, Boateng, K Toure, Kompany, Boyata, Kolarov, Lescott, Wright-Phillips, Johnson, De Jong, Vieira, Milner, Y Toure, Silva, Barry, Tevez, Dzeko, Adebayor, Jo.
