This won’t come as news to anyone, but Aston Villa have a problem scoring goals. A big problem. And how that problem is addressed will determine whether they make a push for Europe or wind up just above the relegation places.

Aston Villa’s injury crisis continued to mount, Monday, with news that defender Richard Dunne had pulled out of the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of Wednesday’s match at home to Norway. In so doing, he became the 10th Villa player to be sidelined at the moment, unless you count Stephen Ireland. (I don’t).

When he arrived at Villa Park from Manchester City in late August, Stephen Ireland was trumpeted as a decent makeweight in the James Milner transaction. Two months on, the 24-year-old has yet to make any kind of impact in Gerrard Houllier’s squad and was benched for the Birmingham derby on Sunday. Makeweight has become deadweight. Not that we should be all that surprised.