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Ashley Westwood reveals inquest into Villa's form

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Ashley Westwood today revealed Villa held a dressing room inquest to address their latest defeat.

The midfielder vowed Villa will improve after the squad aired their views after Sunday's last-gasp 1-0 loss at Newcastle.

Paul Lambert's side have won just three of their last 17 games in all competitions and the defeat kept them four points above the Premier League relegation zone.

They host Norwich on Sunday and Westwood admitted the squad have had their say.

He said: "It wasn't quiet in the dressing room. A lot of people had their say. That's football for you. We've had a good talking to and we'll come out fighting next week.

"You can't dwell on this. It's disappointing at the time, but you move on.

"You're always learning every minute, especially in this league. Everything's analysed. We're young lads, we took a lot of knocks last year and we've grown from that. I think it's starting to show this year, we just need to eradicate those stupid mistakes.

"There's no need pointing fingers at each other, you've just got to get on with it and put things right."

Villa are 13th, locked on 28 points with Swansea and Norwich, with 10 points separating the entire bottom half.

But Westwood insisted the squad are confident they can avoid being dragged back into serious trouble.

"There are 10 teams that aren't safe yet," he said.

"Two wins and you're up there. Look at West Ham, they're well out of it for now. But if they go on another losing streak and we all win then they're dragged back in it. It's a crazy league this year.

"We've been here before, we know what it's like. We're in a better position than last year, put it that way. We've got great confidence in this team."

The 23-year-old should also be fit for Sunday's crunch Canaries clash after limping off on Sunday with a dead leg.

"Touch wood I've never really had a bad injury. I had a thigh strain earlier on in the season, but that was nothing," he said.

"I got a dead-leg and half-time killed me. I stiffened up. I tried to give it a go, but I just couldn't carry on.

"I never want to come off, but I didn't want to let the lads down by playing at 50 per cent and conceding and then I feel it's my fault."