Paul and Hayden will both come back into contention for a place in the squad that will travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United at the weekend.
"Paul had got a kick in the calf that had become stiffer," says John, "and needed a full week for it to settle down.
"The Villa game came just too early so Glenn decided to leave him out, but he will be back training for the game at Manchester United.
"Hayden has had the flu, and it was not felt appropriate to put him on the bench because, although he might have been able to come through 15 minutes, he might have been needed for 85."
Fredi Kanoute will not make the trip to Old Trafford, as he is still continuing rehabilitation work on his hamstring problem.
Although Paolo Di Canio, Nigel Winterburn, and Michael Carrick have all had similar problems but managed to play against Villa, Fredi's is more serious and John explains: "It has only been three weeks for Fredi and you don't recover fully in that time.
"Although he has responded well this week it is just too soon for him and it is prudent just to wait that extra week, especially with all the Christmas games coming up.
"And he doesn't feel particularly confident himself yet, either."
Of the other injuries at the Club, John says: "Ian Pearce has had a scan on the knee and will have a small operation next week for a bone growth on the knee cap.
"The surgery will probably take place on Monday and will be performed by Andrew Williams, who operated on Trevor Sinclair and Titi Camara.
"We try to avoid operations but, after seeing a specialist and resting, it hasn't responded favourably and it's the only course of action as we don't want to lose any more time.
"Hopefully we can get him back by the end of January.
"John Moncur has torn a muscle and is suspended for Saturday anyway, so he will be out until the Arsenal game, while Raggy Soma will train over the weekend and play for the reserves at Derby on Monday.
"Steve Lomas has a pin sticking out of his toe which will be removed next week, and we hope to have him fit for the end of January as well.
"Steve Bywater, who has a broken scaphoid, will come out of his cast on December 27th."