Villa should know by the end of the week whether Luke Young will be fit to face Hull.

The England international missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Bolton with a foot injury and his fitness will be assessed over the next 48 hours.

But boss Martin O’Neill revealed the problem may have to be managed until the end of the season.

“We will leave Luke to Thursday or maybe Friday and we will monitor it from there,” said O’Neill.

“He has been sore for quite a number of weeks – playing with pain-killing injections. In the game against West Ham, he felt the injection wore off rather quickly. But he played through it.

“It was best to give him a rest. He definitely feels better and is seeing the benefits of missing the game against Bolton. But we’ll see. It might be a problem that stays with him until the end of the season.”

Meanwhile, O’Neill has backed Freddie Bouma to come ‘roaring back’ in pre-season after confirming the defender’s campaign is over.

“Freddie will miss the rest of the season,” he said. “It’s been a wretched time for him. He has gone to see the specialist who helped him with the injury originally.

“He has gone in for some keyhole surgery to remove some of the particles that have been floating around. It’s been causing him discomfort. But he should, with a bit of luck, come roaring back during pre-season.”