Ayew out for Sunderland match

Jordan Ayew won't be playing in Villa's Saturday match against Sunderland after picking up a silly yellow card in today's 2-0 loss to Norwich (see our match report here), his 5th of the season which means a 1 game ban.

A fittingly stupid accompaniment to another depressing loss, it comes just three days before December 31st when there will be an amnesty on cards picked up in the first half of the season.

Without Villa's top League goalscorer, Rémi Garde may be forced to turn to Gabriel Agbonlahor in a game which could be his last for Villa, though rumours about the potential transfer of the club captain are conflicted - see our report here.

The yellow was the result of a stupid mini-bout of shoving, with Ayew clearly frustrated after Villa allowed a second goal in the 87th minute to put the game out of reach. The Ghanaian striker had worked hard to little effect in the match and several times complained to the referee about a lack of protection from the Norwich City defence.

Villa will now go to Sunderland 11 points adrift in the relegation zone and at least 4 points behind their 19th-placed opponents, depending on the result of their match with Liverpool on Wednesday.

What do you think? Could Gabby save his Villa career at Sunderland? Or could we see the return of Libor Kozak?