Mellberg to return to Villa side

Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg is poised to return to the side for Saturday evening’s clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Swedish international, who is bound for Juventus in the summer, was suspended for the shock home reversal by Sunderland after his red card at Portsmouth but is set to replace Craig Gardner.

Martin O’Neill has to decide whether to keep faith with on-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson who has looked short of confidence in recent games and made crucial errors.

Villa will be looking to end a run of four games without a win but have not beaten the Red Devils in the Barclays Premier League for 12 years.

Provisional squad: Carson, Taylor, Mellberg, Gardner, Laursen, Knight, Bouma, Agbonlahor, Osbourne, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Barry, Berger, Maloney, Young, Carew, Harewood. Salifou.