Gaby back for Villa

Posted Friday, February 07, 2014 by PA

Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor is set to return to the side for Saturday's Barclays Premier League home clash with West Ham.

Agbonlahor has missed the last two games with a foot injury suffered after tumbling over an advertising hoarding in last month's draw at Liverpool.

But manager Paul Lambert is without Ron Vlaar after the centre-back picked up a hamstring problem in the closing stages of last week's 2-1 loss at Everton.

Exactly a year ago Villa beat the Hammers 2-1 on home soil, a result that helped the club kick on for survival.

Twelve months on and Lambert claims the difference within the club is "night and day...totally different".

With five of Villa's last seven home matches against teams in the bottom half of the table, Lambert is hoping this latest match with West Ham provides another watershed moment.

"We're hoping to push on again," said Lambert.

"If we go into the game with the same form we've been in of late then we will certainly be right in it, that's for sure.

"The main thing for me is we're playing well enough at this moment in time to win games."

West Ham are challenging the Football Association's decision to uphold Andy Carroll's three-match suspension.

The Hammers are unhappy that the England striker's ban - a consequence of being sent off against Swansea last week - was not overturned, and have taken their case to an independent arbitral tribunal in the pursuit of "justice".

Yet manager Sam Allardyce expects his players to provide a positive response at Villa Park.

He said: "We all have to overcome adversity. I hope the players are angry, as angry as I am, and I hope they take that angry out in a positive manner against Aston Villa to go and prove we can still win a game of football without Andy."

Italian duo Antonio Nocerino and Marco Borriello could feature following their recent loan moves.

Full-back Joey O'Brien (shoulder) and midfielders Joe Cole (groin) and Mohamed Diame (knee) remain out.