Sky Sports were at Villa Park as part of another successful open training day, the third time the club have done this I think off the top of my head, and there’s a nice, relaxed interview with Gérard Houllier here. The gaffer confirms that Warnock will be suspended for Burnley, that Petrov will be out for at least a couple of months, Luke Young should be back in training in a week and Gabby is a week or two away from returning.

He was also asked about the captaincy and hinted at Nigel Reo-Coker being the long term replacement in Petrov’s absence, which would certainly get my seal of approval.  Obviously Houllier will be thrilled to hear that.

GH also skillfully dodged questions about the weekend’s derby game, insisting he wanted to concentrate on Burnley’s visit on Wednesday and also reiterated a desire to have a good crack at the Carling Cup.  Regular readers will know it’s not a competition I care a great deal about, but I wouldn’t turn down another Wembley final or, indeed, the route into Europe it offers.

There’s a picture gallery from the training day on the OS here.