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Delph on way back as Villa injuries heal

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England midfielder Fabian Delph has returned to training as he fights to come back for some of Aston Villa's Christmas fixtures.

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The 25-year-old dislocated his shoulder in October and was ruled out until the end of December.

Delph, who has impressed since breaking into Roy Hodgson's side this season, missed England's recent Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia and the friendly against Scotland as well as crucial Premier League games for Villa.

Tomorrow's clash with relegation strugglers Leicester City at Villa Park is far too soon for an appearance by the combative midfielder.

However, Paul Lambert revealed the Yorkshireman is making good progress since having surgery and was able to make a tentative return to training yesterday.

The Villa boss, also without key defenders Ron Vlaar and Philippe Senderos at the moment, said: "Fabian's coming on, he trained with the team.

"It's non-contact at the minute but he's doing really well.

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"Ron will maybe do a bit of training on Saturday with the team, he's more advanced than Philippe. He's coming on. I'd like to think we can get into the new year with both of them back.

"That's the target, though we can't put too much pressure on them. And if things go well with Philippe, maybe we can get him back by the end of the month.

"Slowly but surely we're starting to get guys back."

Lambert has taken stick from some supporters recently as Villa show signs of heading for another flirt with relegation but he insists things are not as bad as many suggest.

Christian Benteke finally found scoring form on Tuesday with his first goal since being sidelined by injury in March as Villa claimed a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

And Lambert said: "We're sitting 12th at the moment, two points behind Everton, who had a massive season last year, so it's not all doom and gloom. It's the media who portray that.

"We are where we are. We had a hard run of games but we're undefeated in the last four matches and they've been tough, tough games for us but we're slowly but surely getting there."

Midfielder Joe Cole has been ruled out for around two weeks with a hamstring injury suffered in Tuesday's win over Crystal Palace but Lambert hopes he can return sooner.

Meanwhile Nigel Pearson has refused to say sorry to a Leicester fan after their heated exchange this week.

The Foxes boss insists he has a clean conscience following the row during Leicester's 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday.

A video has emerged of the manager arguing on the touchline with a supporter but Pearson, who is unlikely to be disciplined by the club, would not apologise.

"I have had run-ins with fans in the past and in the heat of the moment these things happen and there won't be any apology," Pearson said.

"Let's put it like this, it's best if we don't speak about what happened on either side, I'm not going to repeat what happened here.

"I am very keen to protect my players and myself and I'm more than happy to stick up for myself in that situation and, more importantly protect my players, that's the root cause of the problem.

"If people were offended by what happened in some ways that is regrettable but there's no need for me to apologise to someone of that ilk."

The defeat left Leicester bottom of the league and Pearson said: "I think our supporters do support the players and get behind them. But I understand the frustrations from lack of results. But questioning players' application and commitment is not the right way to assess what's happening."

Leicester captain Wes Morgan is suspended after his red card against Liverpool with Liam Moore expected to take up his place in the back line.