And McLeish will be relatively pleased with the opening batch of fixtures as they have presented him with winnable games early on.
After their trip to Craven Cottage, they then host Blackburn and Wolves at home on consecutive weekends.
On Boxing Day, Villa travel to Stoke before hosting Swansea in their opening game of 2012 on January 2.
Villa will finish their season away to Norwich.
Source: Team Talk
Source: Team Talk