Richard Dunne has admitted that it would be a disaster for Aston Villa if they were to suffer relegation this season.
However, the central defender has defended Alex McLeish amid growing criticism of the Villa manager from the club’s fans.
Dunne has been out of action for over two months due to a shoulder injury, while Villa have slid towards the relegation zone. They are currently three points above the bottom three, having won just one of their last 13 games, and are 6/1 with bookmaker to go down.
Villa travel to local rivals West Brom on Saturday and are 5/2 to come away from The Hawthorns with all three points. Dunne has said in the build-up to the match: “The fans have a bee in their bonnet about the manager but he’s doing his best.
“He won’t be sitting around feeling sorry for himself. He knows the job in hand and it’ll be up to him.
“The manager can only pick who is available and we’ve probably had about 11 senior players because the injury list has grown and grown. He’s not been able to get the players he wants on the field at the one time.”
