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Aston Villa suffered TWO further injuries against Millwall, Steve Bruce has confirmed.

It was an afternoon to forget for Villa as Neil Harris’ Millwall dominated and should have left Villa Park with their first away three points of the season.

Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone was in inspired form and tamed the Lions to gift Villa what could prove to be a valuable point.

But there was no such fortune on the injury front as Villa were dealt further blows.

Central defender Chris Samba, who has been filling in for crocked captain John Terry in recent weeks, had to be withdrawn with 10 minutes remaining due to a muscular problem.

Meanwhile, midfielder Henri Lansbury completed his first 90 minutes of the season having previously struggled with a knee injury. However, the ex-Nottingham Forest skipper has since complained of a similar injury to Samba.

Asked specifically about Samba, Bruce told us: “I’m not so sure whether it’s a calf or a hamstring - it looked like a hamstring. Lansbury has got one as well. So that’s a disappointment.

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“I don’t want to use excuses because we’ve had it now for months but we certainly don’t need any more.

“When you’ve got people like Jedinak, Kodjia and Terry not playing in a big game today, when you need physicality, we struggled.

“But I don’t want to make an excuse, we’ve got to be better than that.”

Tommy Elphick replaced Samba to make his first appearance in the Championship since the final day of last season.

The former captain has fallen down the pecking order having failed to secure a move away from Villa Park in the summer transfer window.

But with Terry still not fit to return and Samba potentially facing a spell on the sidelines, Elphick may be thrust into the thick of the action against promotion rivals Derby County next weekend.

“It hasn’t gone well for Tommy (Elphick) in the year that he’s been here but he’s an experienced pro who has been around the block a bit.” Bruce added. “As I’ve said repeatedly, it opens the door.

“We’ll see how everybody is. We’ve got a week now to prepare for Derby.”