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Tim Sherwood has revealed that he was forced into taking Christian Benteke off as his hip was a constant source of pain, despite the Belgian taking medication midway through the match.

Benteke was replaced by Andreas Weimann with 15 minutes to play, and Sherwood has rued his lack of luck with injuries across the board since his arrival at the club last month.

Sherwood stated: “Benteke took a painkiller. He’s had a problem with his hip. In the end he had to come off because it was too sore.

“I don’t know how bad it is. He’s being assessed by the physios.

“Our concern is in the defensive areas.

“We’ve got two fit defenders in the whole club, so hopefully this international break gets the opportunity for the physio to work a bit of magic on them.

“I’ve done all what I can do.

“I’d just like a few more fit players, please!”

After the elation of the victory at the Stadium of Light, this was a sobering weekend for the Villa faithful, but former Spurs manager Sherwood says he knows the players will come again.

“We still know there’s a lot of hard work to be done.

“We won 4-0 last week and everyone was jumping up and down but we knew there was still a lot of hard work to be done.

“It’s a reality check, not for us because we knew there’s a lot of work to be done, but perhaps for people looking in from the outside.

“Every point’s vital and we need as many as we can to be safe. It’s a set-back, but we’ll pick ourselves up and we’ll be alright.”