ROBBIE Keane is raring to face former club Wolves this weekend – but Alex McLeish is under no pressure to start the striker despite the brevity of his loan.

The Ireland captain is expected to make his full Villa debut at Molineux on Saturday after a nine-minute substitute cameo appearance in the home draw with Everton.

But even though Keane has just five league games left to impress before returning to LA Galaxy in March, McLeish insists he is not a guaranteed starter.

“No, there isn’t any pressure to start him,” he said. “He is not here for long but it has to be the right time. We’re just assessing him fitness-wise.

“He will be very eager to play in this one but he’s the kind of lad that it doesn’t matter who the opposition is, he will want to be involved.”

Keane has developed a good understanding with Stephen Ireland in his first week at Villa and McLeish could field the two compatriots at Wolves.

Ireland played the withdrawn forward role Keane is renowned for against Everton but could drop deeper to accommodate his former international team-mate.

“We’ve got another few days of training and Robbie’s been looking sharp so I’ve got food for thought for the weekend,” said McLeish.

“He has brought the link-up skills to the team and has struck up a good rapport with Stephen Ireland as well.

“They have clicked really well. Robbie is another quality guy who can hopefully influence others as well as contribute himself.

“But we’ll keep our team quiet just now. I don’t want to give away anything in advance of the game.”

Villa squandered another lead in the 1-1 draw with the Toffees and McLeish wants the claret and blues to recover the points they have lost in the coming matches to climb back into the top half of the table.

“There are quite a few games where we threw it away and gave away goals,” he said. “These are things we can improve on.