Aston Villa are reeling from the news that their leading scorer Dwight Yorke will be out of action for up to six weeks.

Yorke is to have an operation on the calf injury suffered in last Saturday's Premiership clash with Coventry at Villa Park.

A scan revealed that the injury was far more severe than Villa manager Brian Little and his striker had imagined.

The only consolation is that he should be fully recovered when Villa resume the UEFA Cup trail at the quarter-final stage in early March.