Villa extend their unbeaten run to seven League games to make it seven wins, eleven draws and five defeats in twenty three division one games this season under Ron Saunders.

Villa’s eleventh draw in twenty three games - after they concede a penalty at Old Trafford to hand Manchester United a lucky point - sees them fall back to twelfth in the table.

Villa have three and in some cases five games in hand over their rivals.

Forward Joe Ward, 24, makes his Villa debut after joining from Clyde in December 1978 for a fee of £80,000 to become the 603rd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Gordon Cowans makes his 75th start in a Villa shirt (90 Appearances) to make it W39 D23 L28, 11 Goals and 7 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 5.00 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Forward Kevin Ready makes his first appearance in the Villa squad after signing from Yarmouth for £2,000.