Alan Wright

Alan Wright faces a fight to get his place back given the fine form Gareth Barry has shown whilst deputising in Wright's absence.

Wright has missed Villa's last four games after being struck down by a knee injury that brought to an end his impressive appearances record at Villa Park. He did come close to being able to face Leicester City last weekend but was not quite right to be able to make a return to Premiership action.

Wright will need to play against Middlesbrough if he is to have any hope of tackling Liverpool at Villa Park on Saturday. However, even if he is fit, Wright may well have a battle on his hands to try and get back into the team. It had been expected that his main rival for the left-back berth would be the Israeli international, Naguan Gharayeb, who joined Villa in a £1 million move from Hapoel Haifa during the summer.

But Gharayeb has yet to fully show his true potential at Villa Park and Gregory has instead opted to deploy teenage Gareth Barry as a left-back after Villa switched to playing with a conventional flat back four in their last few games. Barry made his name last season playing as a central defender and then ended the campaign by having a few games in midfield.

But he has settled comfortably into the full-back role and has been earning praise for his displays, most notably from his team-mate Lee Hendrie, who has been impressed with the way that Barry has adapted so quickly to his new role.

David James

John Gregory has withdrawn goalkeeper David James from tonight's reserve team clash with Middlesbrough at Villa Park. James had been expected to play for the second string to prove his fitness after missing the last four games with a knee ligament injury.

But Gregory has opted to pull James out of the reserves with a view to him making his comeback to the side against his old club, Liverpool, in Saturday's Premiership clash at Villa Park. Gregory is keen to ensure that James does not suffer any further problems in the build-up to Villa's biggest home game of the season to date.

The former England international has missed the last four games with a recurrence of a knee ligament injury that forced him off during Villa's 3-1 defeat against Arsenal at Highbury on September 11. Since then he has been undergoing intensive treatment with the Villa physiotherapist, Jim Walker.

James himself is just as keen to get back into action on Saturday as it will present him with his first chance to face his former club since he made his £1.8 million summer move Anfield. James was dubbed "Calamity James" during his time on Merseyside for some well publicised errors. However since making his switch to Villa Park, and starting to work with the club's goalkeeping coach Paul Barron, he has begun to rediscover the kind of form that earned him an England call-up four years ago.

Gregory has always maintained that James has got what it takes to be a star on the international stage and an impressive display in such a high profile game against his old club would only boost his hopes of forcing his way into the plans of Kevin Keegan.