James Collins remains an injury doubt for the home clash with Spurs this weekend with Martin O’Neill stressing that he won’t rush the defender back to action.

The Welshman missed the 1-1 draw at Burnley last weekend and the 5-1 home win over Bolton prior to that, with a groin problem. He has returned to training, although O’Neill has refused to clear the way for Collins to make a return for the Villa Park clash with Spurs…

“He trained all of the week and it was only in the last few moments of training on the Friday that he started to feel something again….I will have a look at it. At this minute, I would think he would be a doubt”

Collins has been in outstanding form alongside Richard Dunne this season and emerged as quality fantasy proposition as a result. However, Villa have now gone 8 games without a clean sheet and face a Spurs side full of goals at the weekend…

Following this, Collins will face United, Sunderland, Arsenal and Liverpool in the next five games. Given those fixtures and the doubt surrounding his fitness for the weekend, it will be interesting to see how many of his owners hold firm over the next few days.

Collins is already the most transferred out defender this gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League game, with 7680 of his owners getting rid so far. It appears that many managers are investing further cash in their defence this week, with interest in Terry and Evra increasing. Stoke’s Shawcross remains popular in the same price bracket as Collins, although, as reflected in the Watchlist (to be updated tonight), Burnley’s Alexander, Evans of United (when fit) and Birmingham’s Roger Johnson, all look stronger options. All three have decent fixtures to come over the four-to-five gameweeks.