By Alistair MannBBC Match of the Day commentator Venue: Villa ParkDate: Saturday, 5 NovemberKick-off: 1500 GMTCoverage: Watch highlights on Match of the Day; listen on BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Premier League
Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish says he is confident that Jermaine Jenas will be fit to make his debut after recovering from an Achilles injury.
Barry Bannan has had his club suspension lifted, leaving Eric Lichaj as the only player on the sidelines.
Norwich manager Paul Lambert is expected to pick the same side for the seventh game running.
They remain without long-term injury victims Daniel Ayala, James Vaughan, Elliot Ward and Zak Whitbread.
Of the three promoted sides, Norwich have had the most recent experience of a Premier League campaign. It was back in 2004-05 and it proved to be a miserable season in which they barely found themselves out of the bottom three.
Seven years ago it took them until November to record their first win - a damaging start from which they never recovered. Momentum can play a huge part in determining a side's fate and the Canaries, who are the highest placed of the Championship graduates, have built up an encouraging run of results which has seen them lose just one of their last six games, accumulating 11 points in the process.
Their only defeat in that time came at Old Trafford, on a day of ifs and maybes that left their followers disappointed with the result but heartened by their performance.
Perhaps most encouragingly they have also demonstrated their character and self belief, coming from behind in successive matches to earn a draw, most notably at Anfield.
Consequently, they will arrive at Villa Park with as much expectation as hope, particularly as their hosts have continued to exhibit their damaging habit of squandering leads.
Twice they led at Sunderland last weekend but were pegged back. It means that this season they have already given up nine points from winning positions, the most in the division - worryingly the statistics show they were the most susceptible to this problem in the Premier League last season too!
Currently on a winless three-game streak, Villa could certainly do with three points, as within their subsequent eight matches are Spurs, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Head-to-head
This is the 56th meeting between the sides. Aston Villa have won 24 matches, Norwich 16 and there have been 15 draws.The last time they met in the Premier League, Villa won 3-0 at home and drew 0-0 at Carrow Road.Four out of their last five clashes have ended in draws.Aston Villa
Richard Dunne's header against Sunderland was his first league goal since December 2009. His previous three 'goals' in the division were all own goals. He has scored 20 career goals - 11 for his teams and nine for the opposition.Villa have scored 13 and conceded 13 this season.Alex McLeish's side have won two of their 10 league games this season and have triumphed in just seven of their last 24.Norwich
This is Paul Lambert's 100th league game in charge of Norwich (W55, D26, L18). The Canaries have failed to keep a clean sheet in their 11 league and cup matches this season.Their starting line-up has been unchanged for the past six matches.