The former Celtic favourite knows Cahill has settled in well since his £5 million move to the Reebok Stadium in January and he is looking forward to seeing his one time collegue battle it out with the likes of John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor on Saturday.

Petrov says the centre half can be proud at captaining Wanderers in their recent UEFA Cup game against Sporting Lisbon and he beleives that the young defender would still be with the Villans now had he not wanted to play more games.

"Gary has been a rock at the heart of their defence since his move to the Reebok Stadium in January and I notice he even captained the team in the UEFA Cup. That was a great honour for him and it shows how much they think of him." said the Bulgarian yesterday

"Gary never let Villa down when he was here and he only moved on because he wanted regular first-team football. It should make for a fascinating battle with him up against John Carew and Gabby Agbonlahor."

Samuel also comes up against some old friends this weekend and Petrov states that the left back would have made much more of an impact at Bolton had it not been for various injury problems.

"Injury has prevented Jlloyd making the same impact at Bolton, but he's a quality full-back and I know he's one to watch going forwards."

A win for the Wanderers is a must at Villa if they are to stand any chance of survival in the top flight.

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