Clark’s heart goes out to injured Kozak

Irish defender Ciarán Clark has wished Aston Villa team-mate Libor Kozak well in his recovery from the broken leg that resulted from his tackle on the striker in training.

Czech international Kozak, who joined Villa from Lazio over the summer and has scored four times so far, sustained the injury last Thursday and will be out for the rest of the season.

Clark told Villa’s website yesterday: “He’s had treatment and hopefully he’ll come back stronger. All the lads are thinking of him.

“We were playing a possession game and it was a clash of legs. No-one expected it and we thought he was going to get back up. The physio came on and knew it was a bad injury. I don’t know if it was the impact of the way his leg went but it was innocuous and no-one expected it to be as bad.”