Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has indicated that Scott Sinclair did himself no harm on Tuesday night

The 26-year-old winger netted a hat-trick in Villa's 5-3 Capital One Cup win over Notts County which has him in with a chance of returning to the Premier League starting line-up after missing the weekend's 2-1 loss at Crystal Palace.

Sinclair's scoring ability could see him potentially replace Villa's longest serving player Gabby Agbonlahor for the home clash with Sunderland this weekend but Sherwood warns that all players in his squad are on notice, not just the misfiring forward.

"He's only played three games and no-one has scored (in the league) except for Rudy Gestede," Sherwood said of Agbonlahor.

"But everyone's position is under threat, always.

"If you've got a nice balance to your squad and people (referring to Sinclair) who are willing to turn in performances like that and put themselves on offer, I'll consider everyone.

"That also includes the kids."

Of Sinclair, Sherwood added: "On history Scott is a goalscorer. He scored a few for me last season in the cameo he had.

"We might just need to find him a place in the team at some stage."