Steve Bruce hails Aston Villa's 'man in the mask' James Chester

The centre-back was again expected to don a protective mask in order to feature in this evening's game at Leeds, after breaking his nose during last month's 1-1 draw at Brighton.

And Bruce reckons the unflinching way with which Chester dealt with the injury was typical of a player who has impressed since his £8million summer switch from Albion.

"It was typical of James that when he broke his nose badly against Brighton, he didn't flinch," he said. "It was all a bit old school, the doctor put it back in with a sponge.

"Nothing surprises me with him, I had the pleasure to manage him for three years at Hull. He's an excellent professional, if every player was like James Chester then my job would be easy. He'll never let you down, he's as tough as teak and a very good footballer. It just shows what a bit of hard work can do."

Bruce reluctantly sold Chester to Albion following Hull's relegation in 2015 but the Wales international endured a difficult season at the Hawthorns, making just 13 Premier League appearances.

"Sometimes it happens but, typical of James, you didn't hear him bleat about that," added Bruce.

"If all footballers were like him you wouldn't need managers, he's salt of the earth type."

Chester moved to Villa after starring in Wales' run to the Euro 2016 semi-finals, where he played in a three-man central defence.

"The Wales experience has helped him enormously," continued Bruce. "At Hull we played a back three. Some players can't adapt to that, but he does it really well - it was one of the reasons why we played it.

"He does it really well for Wales too and I'm mindful of that, one day we might see it here. It could be a way forward."

Striker Libor Kozak meanwhile appears set to leave Villa in January after Bruce admitted the striker requires a change of scenery.

The Czech Republic international has been blighted by bad fortune with injuries, to the extent he has made just 22 appearances for Villa since being signed by Paul Lambert in September 2013.

After making two substitute appearances earlier this term, he now finds himself well down the pecking order and Bruce admitted he will need to move away to get game time.

"Certainly Kozak needs to go and play somewhere," he said. "He's been fit for the last four or five weeks. He scored twice in the under-23s at Stoke on Saturday.

"To be fair to the boy, he's just got himself back training and fit. It's been a disaster and maybe a change of scenery for him is probably inevitable.

"He needs to go and play football so if we could get a home for him to go and play football, that would probably be good."