Hull City travel to Villa Park on Saturday looking to extend their unbeaten Premier League run to five games.
The Tigers have reversed their fortunes over the last month, after a poor start to the season put manager Phil Brown's job on the line.
Brown's side though, have since collected eight points from four games, with their last outing ending in a 1-1 draw at big-spending Manchester City.
Hull are on an impressive run but they have yet to win away from the KC Stadium, with just two draws to show from seven away games.
Hull are again without midfielder Seyi Olofinjana as they travel to Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.
The Nigeria international has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury but should return to training next week.
Winger or full-back Bernard Mendy could be doubtful after suffering a knock in a midweek reserve outing.
Craig Fagan (rib) is back in contention but third-choice goalkeeper Tony Warner is unavailable due to his wife giving birth.
Aston Villa have drawn 1-1 in four of their last six Premier League games. But they have lost only one home game and have conceded only six goals at Villa Park.
Villa boss Martin O'Neill is looking for his side to maintain their push for European football at the expense of Phil Brown's side by turning a succession of draws into victories.
But he's aware that the Tigers have made vast improvements in the past months to climb out of the bottom three.
Aston Villa striker John Carew is poised to return.
The Norwegian international missed the Carling Cup quarter-final victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park in midweek with a hamstring strain.
Carew must wait to see whether he regains his starting spot after a resurgent Emile Heskey has netted twice in the past three games.
Central defender James Collins is again ruled out with a calf problem and Carlos Cuellar will again partner Richard Dunne at the heart of the back four.
REVIEW:
HULL City saw their promising run of form shudder to a halt after going down to a 3-0 defeat at Aston Villa this afternoon.
First half goals from Richard Dunne and James Milner saw the home side capitalise on slack defending from City.
And while the Tigers offered an improved effort after the break, John Carew’s late penalty completed the defeat.
Early pressure was to be rewarded on 13 minutes though when Richard Dunne received a great ball from James Milner inside the box and sent the ball crashing into the top right corner of the goal to make it 1-0. It was an excellent finish for a defender and Hull now had to tighten things up fast or risk getting blown away.
As ever, the goal gave the home side greater momentum and they took control of the middle of the park with Stilian Petrov feeding the dangerous Villa wide-men Milner and Young, who had a drive at goal blocked by Anthony Gardner before Hull were struck by another blow as influential midfielder Jimmy Bullard had to be taken off injured and was replaced by Craig Fagan.
This seemed to deflate the visitors further and the only attack of note from the Tigers during the next 10 minutes was a near-post corner by Stephen Hunt which was sent high and wide at close range by Gardner.
A poor first half from Hull turned into a bad one when the impressive Milner, receiving the ball from Gabriel Agbonlahor after a good run, drove at goal from just outside the box, his bullet shot beating Matt Duke in the middle of his goal. 2-0.
By this time Brown had reached supernova on the sidelines. But there was nothing he could do, beyond bringing on Nicky Barmby to lend some experience. Things improved marginally, but then Duke laid out Ashley Young with three minutes left and Carew rounded off the afternoon from the spot.
The Villans played tight to see the game off with the clean sheet as the final minutes approached. Martin O'Neill's side are now up to 5th spot in the table. Hull will need to regroup after a good run of form was ended at Villa Park.