Gareth Barry will lead Aston Villa out as captain once more with Martin Laursen sidelined for two months.
The England midfielder was first given the armband in 2006, but had it stripped amid talk of a move to Liverpool last summer, when the responsibility was handed on to Laursen.
But the Danish defender has had to have surgery on a knee injury and will be out action for at least eight weeks.
That left only one man for the job.
Manager Martin O'Neill said: "Gareth Barry will be the captain in Martin's absence and there is no problem with that whatsoever. He has done it before and he has had an exceptionally good season."
On the injury itself, O'Neill said: "To lose Martin is a real bad blow for us and a real big blow for him.
"He missed a couple of games before coming back for the West Brom match, when he felt pretty good.
"We felt that, with a bit of man-management, we could tide things over until the summer in terms of avoiding surgery, but he has had a reaction.
"He has needed an operation and we are now looking at eight weeks on the sidelines, which is a long, long time.
"He has been brilliant with us, terrific for the last couple of years since coming back from a serious injury.
"It is a major loss but it's something we will have to deal with."
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