'Big loss' – Bruce confirms hammer blow as 'best player' out for Aston Villa v Wolves
Steve Bruce has confirmed that Glenn Whelan will miss the huge Championship derby against Wolves on Saturday evening.
Bruce was talking in his pre-match press conference and confirmed the bad news, saying that Whelan would be a "big loss".
The said Whelan was Villa's best player in the win against Sunderland in midweek.
The Aston Villa manager also said that Axel Tuanzebe and Alan Hutton would miss the game.
Football Insider verdict:
Glenn Whelan always gets a mixed reaction from the Villa fans. Ahead of the Sunderland game loads of them were fuming that Bruce was starting him. Then he put in a shift that led the manager to say he was their best player. However, the role he does is one that can go unnoticed by fans. he's definitely a loss for the huge top-of-the-table clash against Wolves and fans might actually get to see the consequences of what they wished for. Breaking up the Wolves creativity in the middle of the park will have to fall to someone else now.
In other Aston Villa news, 'Feel like crying', 'What planet is Bruce on?' – Aston Villa fans gutted that one man starts v Sunderland