Remi Garde confirms Villa will fine Jordan Ayew following his Hammers red card
Aston Villa boss Remi Garde confirmed Jordan Ayew will be fined for his red card at West Ham - as the manager's striking woes continued.
Five-goal forward Ayew was dismissed for an elbow on Aaron Cresswell in Tuesday's 2-0 defeat at Upton Park and is now banned for three games.
To make matters worse for Villa, striker Libor Kozak has been ruled out for a month after it was revealed he has suffered a minor fracture to his ankle.
The Barclays Premier League's bottom club Villa only have Gabriel Agbonlahor and Scott Sinclair as available strikers for their crunch clash with Norwich on Saturday, and Garde admitted Ayew will be disciplined.
"He came to my office the morning after the game and we had a long chat. Yes, he will be fined," he said.
"He regrets it, he apologised publicly, he apologised to me, the team and the fans. He behaves badly on the pitch but then he behaves the way he has to after that.
"It's an accumulation of frustration, a little bit during the game, but this frustration has grown in the previous weeks with the results and the way we were not winning games. For a long time he was the main threat for the opponent.
"I wouldn't like it if we sum up Jordan from this stupid behaviour. I'm trying to understand why he did that and of course he has to learn from it. Your individual attitude can have a big impact on the collective."
Agbonlahor has not scored for almost a year while Sinclair's last league goal game in August and Villa must rely on the pair to claw the 10-point gap back to fourth-bottom Norwich and safety.
Rudy Gestede is also out with a hamstring injury and Garde confirmed Kozak, who has only made five appearances this season, is unlikely to return until next month.
Ashley Westwood (calf) could return but Carlos Sanchez (hamstring) and Adama Traore (foot) remain out.
On-loan Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford is confident he can fit right into Norwich's own brand of "total football" and score the goals to help keep the Canaries in the Barclays Premier League.
The 22-year-old agreed a switch from Stamford Bridge to Carrow Road for the rest of the campaign just ahead of the transfer deadline.
Bamford spent the opening part of the season with Crystal Palace, but left Selhurst Park at the end of 2015 having not scored in his nine appearances.
The England under-21 forward labelled that spell "terrible", a comment he later retracted with an apology.
Bamford, though, is determined to make an instant impact for a Norwich team which have lost four straight Premier League matches ahead of the trip to Villa.
"I have watched Norwich a lot since the start of the season and I have seen the way they have been playing, and I thought it kind of fitted my style," said Bamford, who was part of the Middlesbrough team which lost to Norwich in the 2015 Sky Bet Championship Play-off final at Wembley.
"I knew they would be creating chances and stuff. If anything they have just been a little bit unlucky with a few mistakes here and there, but they have been playing good football and so I thought it was a good fit."
Bamford added: "All of last season they have been good and since the gaffer (Alex Neil) came in they have changed the style a bit and have been a team who play, you know, total football and has been an attractive team to watch."
Alex Tettey must serve a one-match ban after the Norwegian collected his 10th yellow card in the midweek defeat to Tottenham.
Winger Robbie Brady is expected to be available again following illness, but midfielder Graham Dorrans is still struggling to shake off a bug.
Midfielder Gary O'Neil has now completed a three-match ban following his dismissal at Stoke.
Source: PAR
