Preview: Aston Villa vs. West Bromwich Albion

Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood will be hoping that lightning can strike twice when his side host West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday evening.

Sherwood witnessed his new team edge to a 2-1 victory over the Baggies on Tuesday night, a result that has taken them out of the Premier League relegation zone.

The West Midlands outfit still aren't scoring as many goals from open play as Sherwood would like, but he will hope that Christian Benteke will improve in front of goal after his match-winning contribution in midweek.

Sherwood is unlikely to make many changes to his starting lineup, with Shay Given and Leandro Bacuna coming in for Brad Guzan and Alan Hutton potentially the only alterations.

West Brom head coach Tony Pulis would have been disappointed to have seen his team fail to claim a point on Tuesday, but it wasn't a performance that suggested that the Baggies would lose their early momentum under their new boss.

The former Stoke City manager has lost just twice in 11 games in charge at The Hawthorns, with several of those results helping the club move eight points clear of the drop zone.

Pulis must decide whether to retain Ben Foster in goal after the England international's mistake earlier this week, but midfielder Darren Fletcher is absent after playing for Manchester United earlier in the competition.

West Brom have secured wins over Gateshead, Birmingham City and West Ham United to reach the last eight, with Villa overcoming Blackpool, Bournemouth and Leicester City.

Aston Villa:

Form in FA Cup: WWW Form in all competitions: LLWLLW

Possible starting lineup: Given, Bacuna, Okore, Clark, Lowton, Westwood, Delph, Cleverley, Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia, Benteke

West Bromwich Albion:

Form in FA Cup: WWW Form in all competitions: DWWDWD

Possible starting lineup: Foster, Dawson, McAuley, Lescott, Brunt, Morrison, Yacob, Mulumbu, Gardner, Ideye, Berahino

Sports Mole says: 1-1