'He was in agony in the dressing room and, going by his reaction, it seems serious,' confirmed Villa manager Alex McLeish. 'You never know if it is going to settle down in the next 48 hours before he gets a scan, but he went over on it badly. The pitch was very heavy today, probably because of the rugby, but it sapped the energy out of a lot of the players and Darren's just been unlucky to go into one of the pieces of turf that was dug up.'

McLeish was unsure whether Bent would have to join the England squad, which has already been depleted by a similar injury to Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley, but he hoped Pearce would accept Villa's diagnosis of the injury.

'I think there will be a bit of common sense applied to this one and our doctor has a good relationship with the England set-up, but if he does have to report he will certainly be limping into headquarters.'

« Previous12Next »