Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert suggests out-of-form Christian Benteke could be back in action on New Year's Day.
The Belgian striker has missed the past three matches with a knee injury but could be fit for the trip to Sunderland on Wednesday.
Lambert, who has his fingers crossed for Benteke, was also quick to play down the three-month goalscoring drought the former Genk ace has experienced this campaign after netting 23 in all competitions last term.
"Christian trained on Monday morning and looked okay. He feels okay within himself. The thing with Christian is he's a young guy, and people forget that," he said.
"Everyone put this super-stardom thing on him, but he's 23 years of age.
"He's a young guy and his confidence suffers, as everyone else's does. He's back and hopefully he will do what he did at the tail-end of last season.
"This is the point where Christian scored all his goals and if he does all that, it would be great."
