Albion midfielder Mulumbu collected his second red card in the space of four matches during the 4-1 win at Everton a fortnight ago and had to serve a two-game ban. He had previously been given his marching orders when the Baggies went down 2-0 to Manchester City at the Hawthorns. Mulumbu has been a key figure in Albion's best ever start to a season in the Premier League - 22 points from 16 games. But West Brom head coach Roberto Di Matteo is aware of the need to keep him on the pitch. Di Matteo said: "I spoke to the player (Mulumbu) and he is a young player and he needs to learn from his mistakes. "We need to give a bit of attention to the fact that our players are young and still learning how to manage games. "Youssouf has been a bit unlucky but he needs to make sure it doesn't happen again in the future. "He is a committed player but, if we talk about the last sending off at Everton, he got the first booking for going into the crowd. "The second one was harsh because it wasn't a bad tackle at all. He got the ball and didn't really hurt the other player. "But that is how the game is now." Striker Peter Odemwingie and midfielder Chris Brunt believe Albion have the capabilities to finish as the leading side in the midlands this season. But Di Matteo is not interested in such possibilities with more than half of the campaign remaining. He said: "I don't think that kind of thing counts for very much at this stage of the season. "We are just delighted with the points we have accrued so far and are just going to try and add some more as soon as we can." Albion will be bidding for their first win over Villa for 25 years. Di Matteo said: "It seems like every game we go into this season it's a case of 'the Baggies haven't beaten this team for 20, 30 years!' "I think it was a lot of years since we had beaten Newcastle before last weekend as well. "It is kind of normal for us to go into games with that kind of record. "We just hope we can put in another good performance, try to play as well as we can and hopefully we get something out of the game." Villa are only two points above the relegation zone after losing 3-0 to Liverpool at Anfield on Monday. Di Matteo said: "It is not for me to assess Villa. They've got their own manager that can do that. "They are going to have some players back and we will just look after ourselves." Odemwingie and Brunt are battling to overcome groin injuries which have restricted their training during the build-up to the clash with Gerard Houllier's side.
