Grealish was banished to the under-21 squad following reports of a visit to a Manchester nightclub hours after Villa's 4-0 loss at Everton on November 21 and was not included in Garde's side for the last two league matches.

However, the 20-year-old is poised to rejoin the senior squad after playing for the reserves against Derby County.

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"Jack Grealish will play for the reserve team on Monday and will probably rejoin the group after that," Garde told the club website.

The manager, whose side prop up the Premier League table and are six points adrift of second-from-bottom Sunderland, hailed his team's unity after they secured a 1-1 draw at Southampton on Saturday.

"I saw solidarity between players and the desire to fight all together and not concede goals," he said. "We didn't have the same attitude at Everton or even in our last home game against Watford (a 3-2 defeat).

"Solidarity for me is the key when you are fighting not to be relegated. If we show this kind of performance again in terms of spirit in the team, we will get more points."

OUR VIEW

He was a naughty boy. He's done his penance. Now all eyes of Villa fans will be on whether Grealish will learn his lesson and make sure he doesn't incur his manager's wrath again.

And boy, do Villa need him. The scoreline against Southampton on Saturday finished 1-1, but Villa were utterly abject and should have been 4-0 down at half-time rather than leading 1-0.

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