It’s a vital game for both sides as Norwich City travel to Villa Park ahead of their Boxing Day fixture.

Both sides currently sit in the relegation zone with Villa in 18th on 15 points and Norwich just below them on 12 points.

Aston Villa lost their last game against a very confident Southampton side. A brace from Danny Ings and a goal from Jack Stephens made sure the Saints would get all three points even though Villa midfielder, Jack Grealish, scored a goal which in the end was just a consolation strike.

Norwich looked like they would go on to a 1-0 win over Wolves with Todd Cantwell’s early goal giving the Canaries the lead. Wolves would go on to spoil Norwich’s party with goals from Raul Jimenez and Romain Saiss giving the Midlands club all three points.

Team news

Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn faces up to three months out with a fractured ankle. Tyrone Mings and Keinan Davis remain sidelined by hamstring injuries but both could be fit for Villa’s game at Watford on Saturday.

Norwich have no new injuries ahead of the trip to the Midlands. Josip Drmic, who has a thigh problem, and Ben Godfrey and Timm Klose, both knee casualties, are long-term absentees.

Dean Smith spoke to the media at Bodymoor Heath as his side gear up for their Boxing Day match against Norwich City:

“It’s four Premier League defeats and four not great performances from us. That’s concerning, obviously, and the goals that we’ve been giving away. The performance against Southampton wasn’t great.

“For 20 minutes there was nothing in the game and then we made poor mistakes for the goals, which was disappointing. Our reaction to that wasn’t as good as it should have been. We’ve spoke about that at length during training and the only way you can put that right is by working hard in training.”

Norwich City manager Daniel Farke spoke about the Premier League and about making every game count:

“It was a tough couple of days after the defeat. We played some fantastic football. On a good day, we would come in at half-time 3/4-nil up.

“The Premier League is very close. Every game is difficult for every team. Everton were involved in the relegation battle so far and it’s unbelievable when you look at their squad that they are down there.”

Head-to-head

Villa won 5-1 at Carrow Road in the reverse fixture in October. Norwich are winless in their last seven top-flight visits to Villa Park (D3, L4) but they did win there in the Championship last season.

Aston Villa wins: 33

Draws: 16

Norwich wins: 22