West Ham United 2 - 1 Aston Villa

Parker back for Villa clash

Updated: November 3, 2009, 7:53 PM UK

Hammers captain Parker will take his place in central midfield but fellow anchorman Radoslav Kovac is suspended as a result of his sending-off in the 2-2 draw at Sunderland on Saturday.

Manager Gianfranco Zola has no fresh injury setbacks but Kieron Dyer is still out with a hamstring problem while Dean Ashton (ankle) and Luis Boa Morte (knee) are long-term absentees.

Zola's men have not won in the league since the opening day of the season, when they defeated promoted side Wolves, and could slip to the foot of the table beneath Portsmouth with a heavy defeat to Villa at Upton Park.

Assistant boss Steve Clarke, though, believes his team will get their campaign back on track this week, with another home match - against Everton - in the offing this weekend.

"We are going to give the fans our first home win,'' the former Scotland and Chelsea full-back vowed.

"We are gong to give them the win they want. They have a good memory of the finish of the Arsenal game where we finished strongly (to draw 2-2 from 2-0 down).

"They are going to take us into those two matches and they are going to push us to the win that we need.

"It's important we get a win sooner rather than later so tomorrow night is a terrific chance for us.''

Aston Villa have major injury doubts over midfielders Stiliyan Petrov and James Milner.

Petrov suffered a shin injury and Milner picked up a calf problem during Saturday's 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison Park.

Manager Martin O'Neill rates both as doubtful while midfielder Craig Gardner is unavailable due to a groin injury. Nigel Reo-Coker and Fabian Delph could deputise if Petrov and Milner miss out.

O'Neill will definitely have to make a change in defence as Carlos Cuellar is suspended after being sent off at Everton. Luke Young and Habib Beye are vying to step in at right-back.

O'Neill has warned his players to beware a wounded West Ham.

Villa travel to East London knowing that a win would move them up to fourth in the table. They are facing a West Ham side whose solitary Premier League victory came almost three months ago.

They have lost five of their subsequent nine games to lie second from bottom - and threw away a two goal lead to draw 2-2 at Sunderland last weekend. But O'Neill has seen more than enough of Zola's side this season to recognise they will be a real threat to his team.

He watched them numerous times when he made his move to sign central defender James Collins, who will return to Upton Park at the heart of the Villa backline.

O'Neil said: "I would think they should have more points on the board but I thought their fight-back against Arsenal was fantastic.

"So back at Upton Park I would expect them to be a really tough test.''