With no starts in 2021 whatsoever, it's time for Aston Villa boss Dean Smith to finally bring Trezeguet back into the starting line-up.

The Egyptian suffered a torrid December, missing seven consecutive games in the Premier League through injury, and Smith has tried to ease him back into action over these past few weeks.

Bertrand Traore appeared to pick up his form too, following his summer arrival from Lyon - he went on a run of four goals in six games - but it may be time for the Villa boss to consider some rotation ahead of the clash against Brighton on Saturday night.

The Athletic's Gregg Evans spoke glowingly about the sheer hard work that Trezeguet puts in to each game just last summer, and admitted that his performances had made him change his mind about him.

He said: "The amount of energy that Trezeguet puts in, it’s natural that he’s going to be tiring when it gets to like 65, 70, 75 minutes. (It’s) an incredible turnaround from that player as well, somebody who, admittedly I thought wasn’t cut out to be a Villa player, wasn’t cut out for the Premier League.

"He was probably the scapegoat in the winter months of last season where things weren’t going well. I mean fair play to him for knuckling down and working so hard and actually realising that sometimes hard work beats talent."

The £9m-rated ace has slowly built up his fitness once again, and with Villa trying to chase a European spot for next season, bringing Trezeguet back into the fold could give Smith's side an added edge for the rest of the campaign.

The Villa boss has made the fewest changes of any Premier League boss this campaign, and that's an unsurprising fact given how well his players have done week-in and week-out for him.

But with plenty of games still to go, it's important that Villa don't suffer from burnout ahead of the business end of the season, and giving players like Trezeguet the chance to come in and freshen things up could be key.

Dubbed as "perfect" by his own manager, Trezeguet should start against Brighton on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, Villa are facing transfer disaster over yet another academy starlet...