Defender Tom Lees is nearing his return to first team action.
The 26-year-old stepped up his recovery today, resuming full training with the squad.
Head coach Carlos Carvalhal is confident the influential stopper will soon be back available for selection, as he explained:
“Tom Lees will do his first full training with the team today. I believe it’s reasonable to say that he will soon be ready.
“We are waiting on Gary Hooper and hopefully he too will be back very, very soon.”
On the injury front ahead of Saturday’s trip to Villa Park, the head coach says the players will be assessed later in the day after the final training session, given the short turnaround between games.
Sam Hutchinson, Almen Abdi and Callum McManaman missed out in the midweek clash with Burton, while Ross Wallace was withdrawn on 52 minutes.
“All the time, when you play a lot of games in the space of a few days there are little things, little problems and this is the same for every team,” he explained.
“When we push them a little today, we will see if they give a good answer and after we will take the decisions.
“When we finish the training, we will know exactly who is available.”