Next Aston Villa manager: Tony Xia's choice for hotseat narrowing

The race to be Villa's next manager appears increasingly to be between two contenders with the club set to appoint either Nigel Pearson or Roberto Di Matteo in the coming days.

Both are set to hold further talks with the club's prospective new owner Dr Tony Xia, whose search is now unlikely to widen further despite speculation linking former Everton boss Roberto Martinez with the post.

Pearson and former Albion boss Di Matteo were on the original four-man shortlist drawn up by Xia and his advisors. David Moyes, another name on the list who held talks over the role, withdrew from the race on Monday.

Di Matteo also looked at one stage to be falling out of contention after holding talks with Lazio but the Italian giants now look set to appoint Cesare Prandelli instead. Pearson is meanwhile the preferred choice of current Villa chairman Steve Hollis, the man who will likely make any appointment with Xia's £75million buy-out awaiting ratification by the Football League and Premier League.

Xia is poised to make big changes when the takeover is complete though Brian Little, who has been acting as an advisor to Hollis, is likely to be offered a role in the new-look set-up.

Keith Wyness, who is set to be appointed a director, is understood to be a big admirer of Little, the last manager to win a trophy with Villa, who played a leading role in the club's own managerial search.

Villa's much-maligned head of recruitment Paddy Riley is however facing the axe for his part in last summer's ill-fated £55million spending spree.