Angry Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce demands reaction from his players against Cardiff City

Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Norwich saw fourth-placed Villa blow a chance to close on the second-placed Bluebirds and they remain seven points adrift of the top two with just five games to play.

Bruce was left seething at a tepid performance as his team tumbled to their third loss in five matches.

And he has called for a much-improved showing when Cardiff, who have themselves taken just one point from the last two fixtures, visit Villa Park.

“I’m angry, frustrated, the whole thing,” he said. “But it’s not over. The over-riding factor is that what happens in big games.

“Cardiff haven’t won in two. All of a sudden they have to come to us.

“But we’ve got to look after ourselves and in the last few games we haven’t done enough.

“Can we put pressure on? Of course, that has to be our aim.

“We’ve got two big home games and let’s hope we can do that. If we can, we can give ourselves a chance.”

Cardiff’s dramatic defeat to Wolves on Friday night had given Villa the chance to narrow the gap on Neil Warnock’s men.

But they delivered one of their poorest displays of the season at Carrow Road, falling behind to Josh Murphy’s superb strike on the stroke of half-time.

Denni Srbeny doubled the lead for the hosts early in the second period and though Jack Grealish pulled one back for Villa, James Maddison made the game safe for the Canaries.

Villa, who also host Leeds on Friday night, now trail third-placed Fulham by five points.

Bruce added: “We’ll have to go to the drawing board and pick ourselves up and get ourselves ready for Tuesday.

“My job through good and bad is to lift everybody. It ain’t over, certainly not with five games left and six for others.

“However, we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb.

“We’ve squandered a good opportunity and that’s when it becomes disappointing and frustrating.”