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Gary Gardner is set to get some much-needed match action after joining Sheffield Wednesday on a month’s loan.

The 21-year-old midfielder has not kicked a ball for Villa’s first team this season and is out of contract this summer.

Gardner will join the Championship club, now managed by former Villa player Stuart Gray, for an initial month-long period.

The Bodymoor Heath academy graduate’s opportunities to play for Paul Lambert’s team have been restricted by injury.

He suffered a back problem at the start of the season and has been unable to dislodge Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood, Karim El Ahmadi and Yacouba Sylla from the central midfield places. Lambert confirmed that any discussions about a new contract for Gardner are likely to have to wait until the end of the season.

Gardner, who has previously been out on loan at Coventry, made his senior Villa debut under Alex McLeish as a substitute in the 3-1 victory at Chelsea on December 31 2011.

Altogether he has made five starts and 13 substitute appearances for the claret and blues in the Premier League and the cup competitions.

But Gardner has been used sparingly by Lambert, getting just two run-outs, totalling 18 minutes, on the first and final days of last season.

He had a 16-minute substitute cameo in the defeat at West Ham in August 2012 and came on for two minutes in the May 2013 draw at Wigan.