'I've never seen anything like it', moans Sherwood as he faces up to Villa injury crisis

Tim Sherwood says he has never seen an injury crisis like the one facing him at Aston Villa at the moment.

The Midlanders host QPR on Tuesday knowing defeat would see the visitors leapfrog them and plunge Villa into the Premier League's relegation zone.

And Sherwood will have to cope without a string of first-team players.

Alan Hutton, Ashley Westwood and Scott Sinclair are out, while Tom Cleverley, Aly Cissokho and Kieran Richardson are major doubts. Philippe Senderos is unlikely to feature, while Libor Kozak continues to recover from his broken leg.

And Sherwood admits some players may have to play through the pain barrier in Villa's survival fight.

He said: "I've never seen an injury crisis like it. I never thought I'd be one of those managers who moans about injuries but I have to.

"You get one back and lose another two. They're not trivial injuries, they're always two, three, four weeks. It's okay in September but not now. That's pretty much writing off the season.

"It's something you have to get on with and hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel.

"It's a case of seeing who can come in. A few are back from injury, medically, but physically, it's a need-must situation. Some of them will be risked."