Aston Villa out to end slump with Sunderland win

Aston Villa have slumped to 17th in the Premier League table but will be looking to continue on from their display against Chelsea when they face Sunderland on Wednesday night.

Gerard Houllier's side have been on a terrible run of form having won only one of their last eight matches in the Premier League – this has seen them taking only five points from 24 and means they sit only one spot ahead of the relegation places.

Villa fans will have taken some confidence from the fact their side drew 3-3 with Chelsea. The team showed their fighting spirit, coming back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 and then rescuing a point thanks to an injury-time goal from Ciaran Clark.

The club have battled all season with a constant string of injuries hitting their more experienced players. Many fans will have noted their upturn in fortunes against Chelsea coincided with the return of many of their elder statesman to the starting line-up.

Houllier will be looking to his team to take confidence from that result and keep all three points at Villa Park, which they are priced at 6/5 to do, but they face a Sunderland side who are exceeding all expectations and sit in sixth place in the Premier League table.

Much of their success however has come from their excellent home form, which continued on New Year's Day with the beating of Blackburn. The same cannot be said of the Black Cats form on the road where they have won only once, but that was at defending champions Chelsea, and they are 11/4 to get the win at Villa Park.

Sunderland boast a dangerous strike force of Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan, while Danny Wellbeck has also chipped in with goals in recent weeks, meaning the Villa defence will have to be at their best. Black Cats fans will be hoping that Gyan, who is 13/2 to score the first goal, can shake off a hamstring problem he picked up in the Blackburn game.

Stephen Warnock is available to come back into that defence after injury, but Luke Young remains out. Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor should start after shaking off a sore foot and his pace, along with that of Ashley Young, could probe an injury-hit Sunderland defence.

Steve Bruce is without Michael Turner and John Mensah, while on-loan Nedum Onouha is unlikely to play due to a hamstring problem.

Sunderland beat Villa 1-0 at the Stadium of Light earlier this season but the statistics show they are a completely different side away from home. Villa could climb to 13th in the table with a win in front of their own fans and Houllier knows he is under pressure to guide the side away from the wrong end of the Premier League table.