Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert was happy to hand Marc Albrighton his chance in their draw with Sunderland.
The winger has only just returned from a successful loan at Wigan Athletic.
"I think since I've been here Marc's been really unfortunate with the injuries he's had," said Lambert.
"We let him go to Wigan to get some games. I thought he did really fine there and I thought he deserved to get back in the squad.
"He looked all right when he came on. Hopefully, he needs a little run of not being injured. He can certainly cross a ball, that's for sure, he just needs that little bit of a break where he can sustain it and see how he does."
