Houllier eyes reinforcements

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier has turned his attention to the transfer market after his side slumped to another defeat on Wednesday.

Villa’s 1-0 home loss to Sunderland saw them drop into the bottom three for the first time since 2002, leaving Houllier’s side with just one win from their last nine matches.

“Everybody’s concerned at the club. But hopefully, we’ll get one or two player in January and things will perk up,” Houllier told SkySports.

When quizzed on his future and the angry reaction from fans to the loss, Houllier said: “I’m not the one to decide, all I can say is that I have the backing of the chairman and the chief executive, whatever happens.”

“I can understand their reaction, had we won 1-0 it would have been a different reaction.”

While Villa are in the midst of a relegation battle, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has guided Sunderland to sixth place in the league, just three points behind fourth-place Tottenham.

But while he was delighted with the victory, Bruce took the opportunity to fire a shot at the Premier League and the busy fixture list over the Christmas and New Year period.

“It was a tremendous victory but I think we have now got 10 players missing and we may have to bring one or two bodies in during January,” Bruce said.

“In the Premier League you get players having to play five games in 13 days and players are picking up injuries through fatigue.”