As we enter the final stages of the season, one man who will be looking to play an important part in Aston Villa's play-off campaign is defender Tommy Elphick.

The 31-year old is back in training as looks to make a long-awaited return to first-team action, after a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a foot injury, rounding off what has been a pretty turbulent season for the centre-half.

Despite scoring against Hull City on opening day and starting Villa's first couple of league games, the former AFC Bournemouth man fell out of favour under former Villa boss Steve Bruce, and quickly fell down the pecking order behind the likes of Axel Tuanzebe and James Chester.

The experienced centre-half was subsequently sent out on loan to the Tigers, and played an influential role in their rise up the Sky Bet Championship table, taking them up to within touching distance of the play-off spots.

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In fact, as a result of his impressive performances as well as a shortage of defenders at Villa Park, Elphick was soon recalled by Dean Smith and made plenty of appearances over the winter period.

But the former Brighton man has since falling back out of favour at Villa since the arrivals of Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause, and a spell on the sidelines is the last thing he would have wanted as he looked to force himself back into contention of a starting berth.

As he now looks to make a full return from injury, Elphick will be working incredibly hard in training to play his part in the final few games of the campaign - even more so because of his contract running out in the summer.

Hause, Mings and Tuanzebe have all shown their quality in defence this term, and have made it very tough for Elphick to break into the first-team as we approach the play-offs.

But with his future at Villa Park up in arms, Elphick will not only be looking to prove to Smith that he is ready to start, but also prove to potential summer suitors that he can still do a job in the second tier and above...