Petrov plans January return (from injury)

Stan Petrov is targeting a return to action for the Birmingham derby on January 16 at St Andrews.

The former Celt has been badly missed by Aston Villa as Gerard Houllier’s side who have won just two out of nine games since the Bulgarian picked up a knee injury at Sunderland in October.

Petrov hopes to resume full training in the next fortnight with the Birmingham fixture penciled in for his return to action.

“It has been a painful experience for me,” he admitted. “Throughout my career, I’ve never missed too many games through injury and it’s not something I’ve enjoyed.

“I just have to be patient for a little longer but my knee is now well and truly on the mend.

“I’ve really stepped up my work rate recently and I’m looking to be back in training within the next couple of weeks.

“Then I aim to be pushing for a recall within 10 days or maybe a couple of weeks of returning to training.

“With a bit of luck, I will be back for the derby away to Birmingham in mid-January.”

Saturday’s home win over West Brom was Villa’s first in a month and provided some welcome relief for Houllier.

The former Liverpool boss made some unfortunate remarks after losing 3-0 at Anfield last week which didn’t go down well with the Villa support.

Houllier’s laid back approach has been heavily criticised with reports emerging yesterday that Richard Dunne had a furious row with first team coach Gary McAllister.

Dunne was dropped from the team that beat West Brom on Saturday with Houllier expected to make major changes to the Villa squad during the January transfer window.

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