Downing targets Villa Christmas debut

England winger Stewart Downing hopes to make his Aston Villa debut before Christmas having not kicked a ball in anger since breaking a foot for previous club Middlesbrough in April.

The 12-million-pound player, who was signed in the summer, is slowly recuperating.

“I’ll hopefully be back training in mid-November and then looking to play within a month of that,” said the 24-year-old.

“The specialist has been telling me what to do from day one. I had been doing straight line running because I couldn’t do twisting and turning.

“But I can do a bit of that now as well so fitness-wise it’s just a case of building things up.”

Downing suffered the injury in a clash with Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov at the Riverside Stadium.

He said: “I was going to give the pin to Stiliyan but I have already given him enough stick and made him feel guilty.”