Tim Sherwood takes official charge of Aston Villa for the first time on Saturday when they host Stoke City in the Premier League.
The 46-year-old was appointed successor to Paul Lambert last weekend and already appears to have had a rousing impact at the Midlands club.
He came down from the stands at Villa Park on Sunday to deliver a half-time team talk which inspired his new side to a 2-1 win over Leicester City in the FA Cup fifth round.
While he has a quarter-final tie against local rivals West Bromwich Albion to look forward to, Sherwood's main priority must be to steer Villa away from the relegation trouble that they find themselves in following a 10-game winless run.
It was dropping into the bottom three following the 2-0 loss to Hull City last week that prompted the club to sack Lambert, who won 34 of his 115 games in charge after making the jump from Norwich City in June 2012.
The energy and honesty that Sherwood displayed during his brief time as Tottenham Hotspur head coach last season may be just what Villa need to escape from the stale doldrums of the late-Lambert tenure.
Players former and current are tipping the Premier League-winning captain of Blackburn Rovers to lead Villa to survival, and Sherwood plans to do that by firstly getting Christian Benteke back to his destructive best.
The Belgian striker has scored only two of Villa's pitiful 12-goal top-flight haul this season, having managed 10 last term and 19 in his debut campaign to apparently attract the attention of some of Europe's top clubs.
He could have a partner in attack this weekend should Sherwood immediately implement his preferred 4-4-2 formation. With Gabriel Agbonlahor back from injury, Andreas Weimann, who scored the only goal in Villa's opening-day win over Stoke, may be the one to miss out.
Another of Lambert's favourites, Ashley Westwood, is in danger of the chop, with Scott Sinclair and Carles Gil likely to be suited to Sherwood's attack-minded approach. Brad Guzan will return in place of Shay Given in goal.
Stoke endured a less enjoyable FA Cup weekend as Mark Hughes saw a very realistic Wembley date slip through his fingers courtesy of a 4-1 defeat by Championship Blackburn at his former Ewood Park stomping ground.
The Welshman was forced to admit that the performance that his side gave was one of the worst since his arrival last summer and sent out a warning that he would not allow the Potters to plateau towards the season's end.
Motivation could be Stoke's biggest problem as they sit 10th in the table, 11 points clear of safety and yet nine adrift of the European places, although injuries are also hampering the club's second half of the campaign.
Marc Muniesa joined the list of absentees this week and is expected to miss six weeks with a hamstring strain. Ryan Shawcross, Bojan, Jonathan Walters, Erik Pieters, Peter Odemwingie and Stephen Ireland are all still out and now Geoff Cameron is suspended.
This could mean a first Premier League appearance of the season for Andy Wilkinson, who spent October to January on loan at Millwall. Hughes may have to rush Marc Wilson back from a knock to deputise in defence.
Asmir Begovic's recall will see Jack Butland demoted back to the bench. Peter Crouch should lead the Stoke line against one of his many former clubs, with his main support coming from Mame Biram Diouf.
Villa:
Form in Premier League: DLLLLL
Form in all competitions: LWLLLW
Possible starting lineup: Guzan; Hutton, Vlaar, Clark, Cissokho; Gil, Delph, Cleverley, Sinclair; Agbonlahor, Benteke
Stoke:
Form in Premier League: DLWWDL
Form in all competitions: WWWDLL
Possible starting lineup: Begovic; Wilkinson, Wollscheid, Wilson, Bardsley; N'Zonzi, Whelan; Arnautovic, Diouf, Moses; Crouch
Sports Mole says: 2-0
Joe Fish
