Alex McLeish of Aston Villa has let out the reasons why he was so keen on signing a quick loan deal for Robbie Keane - he feels that Keane is highly motivated in his approach and can help to bring about a change to the Villa team, and get the team fired up the prem table.

Robbie Keane is probably going to be signed for a two month loan deal so he is likely to play in six premier league games.

As yet, there is no commitment from any one at the Aston Villa end as no-one wants to give their final word until the entire deal is seen through. As of now, people are speculating that the entire transfer deal will be around 500 thousand pounds (including the amount for the wages, insurance and the loan fee). The deal should be finalized latest by next week.

Aston Villa were left wondering how they ended their game against Arsenal pointless after dominating much of the match.

The home side spurned a number of good chances before Theo Walcott was fouled in the box and Robin van Persie stepped up to blast home the resulting penalty.

But things changed when Marc Albrighton made the most of a defensive mix up between Thomas Vermaelen and Per Mretesacker.

The former was unable to find the latter with a simple pass and the Villa man nipped in, rounded Arsenal keep Tomas Szczesny and slotted home what was the Premier League’s 20,000th goal.

Aston Villa have had an indifferent start to the season. Even though they were unbeaten until the trip to Manchester City, they have had a lot of draws this season, and as a result, they find themselves only seven points about the drop zone.

The situation would be extremely misleading if you take the league positions into account because they lie in the eighth place just below Arsenal. However, performances have been pretty poor this season with the team struggling to score goals on a regular basis. The departure of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing has definitely had an impact, but it falls down to new manager Alex McLeish to sort it out.

As the international break draws to its conclusion, players will be hurrying back to train and prepare for the weekend of matches that lie ahead. Aston Villa on Monday face a big task as they take on high flying Spurs at White Hart Lane.

Aston Villa have confirmed that they have suspended midfielder Barry Bannan until they have had a full inquiry into his high-speed motorway crash.

The accident happened on Sunday evening, after Bannan had spent the afternoon with footballing friend (and former Villa footballer) James Collins. As they were driving back towards Birmingham on the M1 their vehicle veered out of control, and it was only sheer chance that meant that nobody was hurt.

Aston Villa are reportedly close to signing two players in the January transfer window. Houllier will fly to France to speak to Lyon about the prospects of capturing the 27-year-old Cameroon player.

"He can play as a holding player or as a box-to-box midfielder," Houllier said. "We are working on [the deal]."

Houllier also remains interested in signing Blackpool captain Charlie Adam after making an improved £3.5m bid.

Villa have also been linked to Nicolas Anelka and Ryan Babel.

Richard Dunne is a source for great concern for Aston Villa as they prepare to face Blackburn Rovers in the Carling Cup. The third-round encounter at Villa Park on Wednesday will be Gerard Houllier's first game in charge after he officially took over the reins on Monday.

However, the former Liverpool boss could be without influential defender Richard Dunne, who is struggling with a leg injury. Dunne was replaced by Carlos Cuellar at half-time of Saturday's 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers and may miss out against Blackburn.

ASTON VILLA will have three players in England's final World Cup squad.

As expected, Emile Heskey and James Milner made it into the final 23 for the flight to South Africa.

But more surprising was Fabio Capello's decision to pick Stephen Warnock as one of his defenders ahead of Everton's Leighton Baines.

The only other Midlands representation comes in the form of Joe Hart, who rocketed into the the England squad on the back of an excellent season at Birmingham City before returning to Manchester City.