Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish believes home fans will give returning Liverpool midfielder Stewart Downing a hostile welcome.
And McLeish has urged fans to do their best to make sure he endures a miserable return.
He said: "Stewart was a well liked lad here at Villa, but I'm sure the fans will wind up the opposition. Maybe they will give him a wee bit of apprehension-inducing stick. Hopefully we can keep him quiet.
McLeish admits Villa were fighting a losing battle to keep Downing as soon as he got wind of being on the Reds' radar.
He added: "It's very difficult to keep a player when a club like Liverpool is openly chasing one of your players. We resisted as much as possible until we struck a deal in the end which suited both parties.
"There's no hiding anything nowadays. You can't keep things a secret. Teams were interested in you in the past but your manager would not tell you about it.
"I'm only finding out now I could have been an Arsenal player!""When players leave, they get stick when they come back. It's just one of those things that happen."
