NEIL RUDDOCK hopes to be in the Liverpool line-up that will try to deny Dwight Yorke his 50th goal for Aston Villa in tonight's key English Premiership clash. Ruddock was arrested by police on Sunday night - and later released without charge - after his £57,000 Porsche overturned, but looks to have convinced manager Roy Evans that be should retain his place at Villa Park.
The priority will be to stop Yorke, who scored twice in a 2-1 win against Liverpool in Villa's last home league game of 1993-94 and repeated the double last May in a 2-0 win that helped preserve his club's Premiership place.
Villa currently have the best defensive record in the top flight and 12-goal leading marksman Yorke is enjoying the best form of his career. Villa are in the League Cup semi-finals and last Sunday Yorke's chipped penalty sent then into the FA Cup last 16. A win tonight would leave them level with third-placed Liverpool with a game in hand.
While a win at Villa would put Liverpool above Manchester United, they would still be nine points adrift of leaders Newcastle.
Leeds United thrashed 5-0 at Anfield 10 days ago, hope that defenders Tony Dorigo (hamstring) and Richard Jobson (thigh) will be fit to return at Nottingham Forest. Their availability could be critical because David Wetherall, Mark Ford, Paul Beesley and Lee Chapman are suspended and Tony Yeboah heads a trio of players away on African Nations' Cup duty.
Alan Ball returns to the Dell for the first time since he left Southampton seven months ago and the build-up to the relegation battle has been tar from smooth with his Manchester City squad changing hotels after a dispute over alleged bad behaviour by City players.
West Ham lost out in their bid to receive work permit clearance for Croatian defender Slaven Bilic and Romanian Ilie Dumitrescu signed from Tottenham for £1 million, in time for the visit of Coventry, who are three points below them in fourth from bottom.
