Leeds United boss David O'Leary has admitted that "TV crock" Rio Ferdinand's chances of facing Aston Villa tonight are not as remote as first thought.

Ferdinand looked set to miss the trip to Villa Park after straining tendons behind his knee while watching television but the £18 million England man was back in training yesterday in a bid to ease O'Leary's defensive headache.

The Elland Road chief will be without influential skipper Lucas Radebe, who is away on international duty and misses the next two matches, while out-of-sorts Jonathan Woodgate has been battling against a flu bug this week.

O'Leary said: "Rio joined in this morning and he looked okay but the physio said that we've got to have another look at him tomorrow morning."

A fit Ferdinand will be a welcome boost for a Leeds side struggling to reach the heights of last season's Premiership adventure, starting with victory over a Villa outfit that has beaten them on each of the last four occasions.

A win at Villa Park would take Leeds up to 10th place, and three points clear of their opponents, and back in with a whiff of the European places.

Villa manager John Gregory, who is set to give a home debut to £9.5 million striker Juan Pablo Angel, knows Villa have to get back on the winning trail after collecting just one win and seven points from the last 10 matches.

Midfielder Ian Taylor is also poised to return to the Villa squad after recovering from a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile Aston Villa yesterday announced a loss before tax of £2.6 million sterling for the six months up to November 30th last year. This represented an improvement on the same period in 1999 when the club suffered a loss of £3.8 million.

The latest figures were not helped by gate receipts and commercial revenue being reduced due to the effect of the demolition and reconstruction of the Trinity Road stand at Villa Park.