Ricky Sbragia reckons Carlos Edwards will provide Sunderland with a ready-made replacement for Steed Malbranque.
Edwards impressed when starting against Bolton in the FA Cup 10 days ago and also played in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Boro, replacing Malbranque after the Frenchman suffered a dead-leg.
Malbranque was booked in the first half of the Tees-Wear derby.
"In an ideal world Steed would not miss the Villa game but he has the five yellow cards and Carlos Edwards gives us a quality replacement," said Sbragia, the manager.
"Carlos was excellent against Bolton; he covers a lot of ground and gets us up the field with his pace."
Edwards played eight games for Wolves during a loan spell at Molineux earlier this season and Mick McCarthy, their manager, has made no secret of his desire to re-sign the winger.
"There has been a lot of interest in Carlos but we don't want him to go, he's a Premier League player," said Sbragia.