Football Corner

Aston Villa have today been rocked by the news that John Carew will face up to six weeks on the sidelines after sustaining knee ligament damage. Carew only score his first goal of the season on Sunday in his sides 2-0 home win against Everton but this has prevented him from adding to that tally in the near future. Villa manager Martin O'Neill told the official club website : "We're looking at four to six weeks out - it's a blow because he is a key player. "We play Tottenham and West Ham before an international fortnight so from that standpoint he could have missed more."

Carew, who signed for the club last January put in several fine displays already this season for Norway but hasn't managed to find the same kind of form at club level. Carew is not renound for his goal scoring but he has a hell of a work rate. "You can do an awful lot of work as a centre-forward outside the penalty area, but you're there to get goals and he's off the mark now. "Suddenly, all that good work he has done for us, that seemingly has gone unnoticed, he'll start to think now that there is a bit of justice."

Obviously terrible news for Villa because Carew is such a threat when he is in top form. His performance on Sunday against Everton was very good and I think Villa are going to miss his tall figure up front throughout the coming weeks. He has linked up well with Agbonlahor in recent weeks and Villa's good start this season is no small part down to them.