Aston Villa duo promoted as Steven Gerrard dusts off his Liverpool magic and Celtic banter is rife - things spotted in training

Preparations are continuing at Bodymoor Heath ahead of Aston Villa's big Premier League return against Leeds United next week.

Villa beat Brentford in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Tuesday while, on Saturday, they'll host Norwegian side Molde FK at Villa Park in another in-house game.

Villa should welcome back their South American trio tomorrow (Friday) with Emi Martinez, Emi Buendia and Philippe Coutinho all in action for Argentina and Brazil respectively this past week.

Back at base and Villa TV have released some telling training ground footage once again as picks out some interesting quirks...

Steven Gerrard continues to have a good look at Villa's under-23 players, with Tim Iroegbunam in 'first-team' action against Brentford on Tuesday.

With the likes of Ben Chrisene, Josh Feeney and others stepping up in recent weeks, Gerrard has introduced two new academy players to first-team sessions, 16-year-old Jayden Barber and 18-year-old Tommi O'Reilly.

Barber's really stood out for Villa's under-23s of late and, with Kaine Kesler-Hayden moving on loan to MK Dons, the former Fulham youngster - signed last summer - has stepped up to provide some competition at right-back.

As for central midfielder O'Reilly, his development has been brilliant, scoring five from nine for Villa's under-18s while, for the under-23s, he was by far the standout player in Villa's 4-1 win over Reading last week.

Barber and O'Reilly are now alongside fellow teenagers Chrisene (18), Feeney (16), Iroegbunam (19) and Carney Chukwuemeka (18) in first-team sessions.

Staying with Feeney and the classy young centre-back was deep in conversation with John McGinn as the pair walked out for training. Both Feeney and McGinn are huge Celtic supporters,