Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has admitted that he was "gutted" after learning that Richard Dunne had fractured his collarbone.

The 32-year-old defender could miss eight weeks of the season after suffering the injury in Sunday's 1-0 loss to Manchester City, and McLeish has claimed that Villa will feel the loss.

"We're gutted to be losing the big man (Dunne). He was trying to get us back in the game when he made a tremendous leap but, unfortunately, he landed badly on his shoulder and fractured the collarbone," McLeish told Sky Sports News.

"He is a stalwart defender and has been that for the past dozen years or so in the Barclays Premier League. It's not good for us to be without such a top player and a defender of his massive experience."

Villa travel to Wigan in the Premier League on February 25.