Emiliano Buendia's outswinging corner finds left-back Sam Byram, who heads it down into the turf and it loops up and onto the top of the crossbar.

Keeper Tom Heaton had jumped and was on his way down by the time the ball actually hit the bar. The ground took all the pace out of it, so he can latch onto the rebound with ease is it drops in front of him.

Video Assistant Refereepublished at 17 mins

17 mins

Aston Villa 0-0 Norwich City

There's a quick VAR on that challenge on Teemu Pukki, which actually came from the side from Villa defender Kortney Hause, but no penalty is given. Corner to come.

Two passes is all it takes for Norwich to carve open the Villa defence, thanks to an absolute peach of a ball by Emiliano Buendia.

It finds Teemu Pukki between the two Villa centre-halves but the ball gets stuck under his feet and keeper Tom Heaton charges out to snuff out the danger.

Trezeguet has a shot blocked for a corner, as does Ezri Konsa from the delivery, before Douglas Luiz fires off target.

Teemu Pukki chases a ball down the right. the Norwich striker gets there first and looks for a team-mate in support but Villa defender Kortney Hause pinches it off him. Nice tackle.

Norwich are enjoying plenty of possession in the Villa half and although they haven't created much yet, Villa keep giving it back cheaply. Home fans getting restless already.

Norwich reply with the first shot on target, Todd Cantwell firing straight at Tom Heaton from the edge of the box after Emiliano Buendia jinked inside from deep on the Canaries' right.

Ahmed El Mohamady plays a nice ball down the right for Anwar El Ghazi, whose cross is cleared.

It comes out to Douglas Luiz but the Villa midfielder drags a 25-yard effort well wide. Sighter?

Norwich's top scorer Teemu Pukki missed a host of chances in Saturday's home defeat by Wolves. He was passed fit despite suffering from a swollen toe so perhaps that had something to do with it? Norwich fans will be hoping he's back to his clinical best today.

Teemu Pukki gets us under way at Villa Park.

While Sheffield United have taken the Premier League by storm on their return to the top flight, it's been a bit of a struggle for fellow promoted sides Norwich and Villa.

At times it has looked like they have adjusted to life back in the big time this season but come Christmas, they are both in the bottom three.

Hamish Marshall
Final Score reporter at Villa Park

These clubs have different recent memories of Villa Park.

The home side have lost their past two Premier League games here, conceding seven goals in the process.

Norwich sealed the Championship title on their visit here last season, with Teemu Pukki and Mario Vrancic scoring in a 2-1 win.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa are a team in desperate need of some Christmas cheer.

They have won only once in their last nine Premier League matches, losing each of the last four. Villa boss Dean Smith has never lost five consecutive league games in his managerial career.

Villa only gave the former Brentford manager a new four-year contract in November that runs to 2023, and it is understood that rather than losing faith with the 48-year-old, the club's hierarchy are keen to strengthen his squad in January.

Image source, AFP

Steve Wyeth
BBC MOTD Commentator at Villa Park

A potentially decisive game, at a critical stage of the season, which both teams could be forgiven for approaching with trepidation.

Five-match winless runs are the short-term reasons they are in the bottom three, yet there may be a shared frustration that the alarming form can be traced back to results that had offered justifiable optimism.

Aston Villa have avoided defeat just three times since a handsome 5-1 win in the reverse fixture at the start of October.

Meanwhile, Norwich have struggled to replicate their phenomenal performance to beat Manchester City, losing nine of 13 since that win in September.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, BBC Sport

Aston Villa have made four changes to the side which lost 3-1 at home to Southampton on Saturday.

John McGinn was an enforced change having been forced off early on with a fractured ankle but Bjorn Engels, Frederic Guilbert and Conor Hourihane also drop out. They're replaced by Ahmed El Mohamady, Ezri Konsa, Marvelous Nakamba and Trezeguet.

Aston Villa XI: Tom Heaton, Ahmed El Mohamady, Kortney Hause, Ezri Konsa, Matt Targett, Marvelous Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, Jack Grealish, Anwar El Ghazi, Wesley, Trezeguet.

Substitutes: Henri Lansbury, Conor Hourihane, Bjorn Engels, Jota, Frederic Guilbert, Jonathan Kodjia, Orjan Nyland.

Image source, BBC Sport

Norwich are unchanged after losing 2-1 at home to Wolves on Saturday.

Norwich XI: Tim Krul, Max Aarons, Christoph Zimmermann, Grant Hanley, Sam Byram, Alex Tettey, Tom Trybull, Emiliano Buendia, Kenny McLean, Todd Cantwell, Teemu Pukki.

Substitutes: Mario Vrancic, Onel Hernandez, Jamal Lewis, Marco Stiepermann, Ibrahim Amadou, Dennis Srbeny, Ralf Fahrmann.