Aston Villa will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 1-2 loss to Arsenal when they welcome Portsmouth to Villa Park this weekend. Under Martin O'Neil, Aston Villa have produced some fine football and they will be looking to continue the trend and move above Pompey on the English Premier League table.

Villa lost their last home game to Arsenal although Craig Gardener had given them an early lead. However the Gunners responded quickly with goals from Mathieu Flamini and Emmanuel Adebayor and out paid to any hopes fans might have entertained of beating Arsenal for the first time in 18 years.

Aston Villa continue to be without first choice goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen,, who has missed the last 14 games due to a strained hamstring. Manager Martin O’Neil had a further setback when it was revealed that midfielder Stiliyan Petrov would be out for at least two weeks with a hamstring problem. Petrov suffered this injury in the last premiership clash against Arsenal.

Nigel Reo-Coker returns from suspension, but Craig Gardener could retain his place following his fine showing against the Gunners. Aston Villa are 7th in the Premiership table with 27 points from 15 games.

Portsmouth on the other hand will also be looking to bounce back from their disappointing 0-0 draw against Everton at Fratton Park in their last Premiership clash. This was Pompey's fourth goalless home draw in five Premier League matches and boss Harry Redknapp will not be happy with the situation. Although Benjani is in fine form with 8 Premiership goals thus far, Portsmouth seem to have frozen feet in front of home crowds.

The only injury concern for Pompey is Primus, who is being monitored on a day-to-day basis with a knee issue. Manager Harry Redknapp who was arrested as a part of a corruption probe has a well settled side, which is sitting pretty at the sixth spot on the Premier League table with 27 points from 15 games. Last season this fixture ended in a 0-0 draw, a result which will not please both teams this time around.

Watch Aston Villa v Portsmouth live on free-football.tv.