Aston Villa team news: David O'Leary has been handed a boost with the news that James Milner is back to full fitness following five weeks on the sidelines. Lee Hendrie will miss out with a knee injury but Olof Mellberg and Gareth Barry look set to start.

Birmingham team news: Defender Matthew is likely to replace Martin Taylor at the back. Nicky Butt is also hoping to return to the starting XI but Julian Gray will miss out.

History of this fixture: The Midlands rivals have met on 112 occasions with Villa winning 46 of the games and Birmingham winning 37. The other 29 games ended all square. Aston Villa have had a torrid time against the Blues in the Premiership over the last few years, recording only one win in seven meetings. However, the good news is that the one win was earlier on this season when Kevin Phillips scored the only goal of the game at St Andrews.

Match betting: Aston Villa win - 6/5
Birmingham win - 15/8
Draw - 9/4

Villa win 1-0 - 6/1
Villa win 2-0 - 9/1

Birmingham win 1-0 - 7/1
Birmingham win 2-0 - 12/1

Draw 0-0 - 8/1
Draw 1-1 - 11/2

Baros to score first - 5/1
Phillips to score first - 11/2

Heskey to score first - 13/2
Forssell to score first - 7/1

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