Ashley Young, right, with teammate Stephen Warnock

Villa players today insisted they have the quality in reserve to cope without wing wizard Ashley Young against Liverpool tomorrow.

Young collected his fifth booking of the season in yesterday’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal for a foul on Abou Diaby, earning him an automatic one-match suspension which immediately kicks in for tomorrow’s visit of Rafael Benitez’s men.

It means boss Martin O’Neill will be forced to change his line-up after naming the same side for the last five games.

Skipper Stiliyan Petrov concedes it is a major setback in Villa’s preparations for another key contest in their top-four quest – but defender Richard Dunne insists they now have the squad to manage.

“It’s a big blow,” said Petrov. “He is a very important player for us. He’s really disappointed that it’s happened but we just need to deal with it and keep going.”

Dunne added: “He’s been doing really well so it’s disappointing. ÊHopefully the squad is stronger this year and this is a chance for the manager to bring someone else into the team.”

Steve Sidwell, Nigel Reo-Coker and Fabian Delph are all vying to come into the side with James Milner likely to revert from his recent central midfield role to the wing.