Crouch set for Villa return

Peter Crouch is poised to make a rare start in attack for Aston Villa in tomorrow’s Barclaycard Premiership encounter at Charlton.

Graham Taylor’s £4.5m (€6.6m) capture from Portsmouth is set to replace 14-goal leading scorer Dion Dublin, who has to serve a one-match ban for incurring five bookings.

Central defender Alpay is part of a 19-strong squad after making his peace with Taylor, although it would be a major surprise if he started after four months of inactivity.

But the Turkish international could act as cover on the bench for Ronny Johnsen and Olof Mellberg given that Steven Staunton has now undergone an ankle operation.

Provisional squad: Enckelman, Edwards, Mellberg, Johnsen, Samuel, Hitzlsperger, Gudjonsson, Barry, Vassell, S Moore, Postma, De la Cruz, Crouch, Hendrie, Kinsella, Hadji, Alpay, Wright.