Villa would lose one of the best centre-backs they’ve ever had should Martin Laursen be forced to retire – according to former club man Dion Dublin.

Claret and blue skipper Laursen, 31, is facing up to the choice of either corrective surgery on a knee problem that has kept him sidelined since January or hanging up his boots.

Dublin, who spent six years at Villa between 1998 and 2004, said: “His loss would be huge. He epitomises a centre half. He’s a mixture of Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.

“He’s just an out-and-out winner.  He’ll do whatever it takes to stop the ball going in the back of the net.

“He’ll put his head in, he can pick a pass, he can make a tackle. He’s one of the best centre-halves Villa have had.”

Villa’s recent defensive frailties – they have conceded 12 goals in their last four games – have been widely attributed to the absence of Laursen.

Dublin, who retired at the end of last season and is now a Sky TV ‘expert’, believes a crisis of confidence is responsible for it.

He said: “I know, I’ve played at centre half and I’ve conceded goals. I’ve made mistakes there and once you’ve made a couple of mistakes you concede two goals one week, then it’s three or four.

“You start to play safe football. You get it from the keeper, you play it to right-back, it comes back. They’re getting the ball nicked and being caught by sucker punches.

“You’re not doing anything wrong. You’re just going through a bad run of luck.”

Dublin, a former FA Cup finalist with Villa, reckons Martin O’Neill’s team must now learn to cope with rising expectation levels.

He said: “It’s also about handling the pressure. The team with not necessarily the best players but players that can handle the pressure will win.

“Villa are good enough, that’s the frustrating thing.”

Dublin was speaking on behalf of Barclays Ticket Office, which is giving fans the chance to win a pair of free Barclays Premier League tickets every 90 minutes.

Get an advice slip from any Barclays ATM and enter the code on the back of your receipt at www.barclaysticketoffice.com for your chance to win.