STAN COLLYMORE is hoping to recover from a heavy cold to be fit to face his childhood idols, Aston Villa, at Anfield tomorrow.

The 14-goal striker, whose partnership with Robbie Fowler has produced 26 goals in their last 15 games, will be aiming to put the pressure on title rivals Manchester United and Newcastle.

A Liverpool win would put them within two points of United and six of Newcastle before they meet at St James' Park on Monday night.

Liverpool are unbeaten for 15 games, but Villa - just three points behind them in fourth place and pursuing Europe on three fronts - have lost only one game over the same spell.

That was to Liverpool at Villa Park in January when Collymore and Fowler done the damage.

Villa are waiting on Tommy Johnson, who has missed three games with a thigh injury, to prove his fitness for the game.

Manager Brian Little is keen to get Johnson back into the side. Tommy plays the role behind the strikers better than anyone else," says Little.

Republic of Ireland defender, Terry Phelan, is backing both his former clubs, Wimbledon and Manchester City, to beat the drop.

The Chelsea full-back faces his old Wimbledon pals in today's FA Cup quarter-final dress rehearsal at Selhurst Park, saying: "You should never bet against them."

Phelan won an FA Cup winner's medal with the Dons in 1988 and now they stand between him and a second. "You can't get tougher opponents," he said.

They have already beaten us once at Stamford Bridge so we know what a difficult task we face. But if we can beat them tomorrow that will give us the edge for the real test in the cup."

Chelsea, who also have former Dons favourite Dennis Wise leading the side at Selhurst, can afford no sympathy for their south London rivals if they are to return to Europe.

Any one of the seven clubs behind the top three could sneak into a UEFA Cup place and Glenn Hoddle's side just three defeats in 20 games certainly look good enough.

Wimbledon have veteran Mick Harford, a recent convert from striker to midfielder, still suspended.

Bat Vinnie Jones is back, along with striker Dean Holdsworth, after a two-match suspension. He could form a new spearhead with Jon Goodman, who has roared back into the team with four goals in two games.

Howard Wilkinson will demand that Leeds shelve dreams of a Wembley double tomorrow when they face rock-bottom BoIton after a month's break from Premiership football.

A five-match unbeaten run in cup football during February has earned Leeds an English League Cup final clash against Aston Villa and an FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool.

It has also caused them to slide into the bottom half of the table and Tomas Brolin has been recalled to try to arrest a slump of three straight New Year League defeats.

Tony Dorigo, Richard Job son and John Pemberton are still out injured while a fourth defender Gary Kelly is given only an outside chance of recovering from shin and knee problems which kept him out in midweek.

Bolton - they have lost twice to their Elland Road opponents this season - are set to recall John McGinlay and Alan Stubbs in what is being viewed as a last- ditch survival mission.

Nottingham Forest manager Frank Clark has decided against giving key defender Stuart Pearce a pre-UEFA Cup quarter-final run-out at Sheffield Wednesday.

Pearce has missed seven games after tearing a calf muscle while training with England, but Clark refuses to rule out the 33-year-old left-back for Tuesday's first-leg clash with Bayern Munich.

Colin Cooper misses the Bayern game through suspension and also joins Pearce on the sidelines tomorrow with a side strain, suffered during Wednesday's FA Cup draw with Spurs.

Norwegian Alf-lnge Haaland is the expected replacement while Wednesday's big problem is up front where David Hirst has suffered a recurrence of hamstring trouble and Mark Bright, axed at Tottenham, has cracked a rib in training.

Blackburn miss wide men Jason Wilcox (ankle) and Stuart Ripley (hamstring) as they seek to stop the rot of three straight Premiership defeats at relegation haunted Manchester City.

But striker Mike Newell returns after a two-match ban and that is good news for both manager Ray Harford and England star Alan Shearer.

"Mike doesn't always get his quota of goals but Alan certainly does when he plays with him," said Harford.

West Ham's Croatian defender Slaven Bilic returns at Coventry after missing the home defeat by Arsenal - it followed five straight wins - with an ankle injury.

Manager Harry Redknapp must choose between Portuguese prospect Dani and Tony Cottee to partner striker Iain Dowie and said: "We need another win or so to make sure we are safe and the sooner we get that the better."

Brian Borrows and Paul Williams return for the struggling Sky Blues after suspension and there could be a recall for Peter Ndlovu.

Middesbrough's new Brazilian import Branco will know shortly after breakfast tomorrow whether he will be in the starting line-up for the Premiership match against Everton at the Riverside Stadium.

Rob son said: "I will make a final decision on whether to play Branco from the start after a chat with the player tomorrow morning."

Branco and Robson could team up as the 39-year-old former England captain is back in the squad after being sidelined for two months with a calf injury.

Everton manager Joe Royle is aware of the dangers Rob son's side present. He said: Middlesbrough will be thinking now that a couple more wins and they will be safe. I am sure that is true.

"They are probably somewhere in between their recent poor form and what they were doing earlier in the season.

"We gave them problems throughout in the game at Goodison last year but they've just got a point and broken out of their bad run."