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The international break will give Tom Cleverley and Aston Villa's walking wound chance to rest and recover.

That is certainly the wish of Villa boss Tim Sherwood anyway after seeing the on-loan midfielder join the casualty list.

Cleverley hurt his groin during the 1-0 defeat to Swansea and Sherwood suggested he was in some discomfort.

Asked why he substituted the Manchester United man and replaced him with Carlos Sanchez on 25 minutes, Sherwood said: “It’s his groin.

Check out photos from Villa's match against Swansea

“I don’t think Tom would come off unless it’s something quite serious."

Christian Benteke, Matt Lowton, Ron Vlaar, Philippe Senderos, Nathan Baker, Aly Cissokho, Kieran Richardson, Joe Cole and Libor Kozak were also all sidelined on Saturday.

Villa's next match is at United a week on Saturday - with Cleverley ineligible in any event - and Sherwood hopes the break will give some of the injured players chance to recover.

“Let’s hope we can get some bodies back on the training pitch," added the Villa manager.

“I might have an update every other day. I just hope they’re closer, but time will be a healer.

“Whether the games will be coming too quick for a few of them remains to be seen.”