Aston Villa suffered a shock defeat at home to QPR last night that put a big dent in their automatic promotion hopes.

Steve Bruce’s men lost 3-1 to the Londoners with goals from Ryan Manning, Jake Bidwell and Luke Freeman sealing a surprise result before James Chester’s late consolation.

It was all the more disappointing for Villa considering it came off the back of their 4-1 hammering of leaders Wolves on Saturday.

Given that, Bruce opted to go with the same XI for the game last night, although he admitted to the Express & Star he underestimated what that win had taken out of the players and should’ve made changes.

“The euphoria of Saturday and my experience of it. I toyed and toyed with changing it. In hindsight I should have done. I blame myself because I always thought it would be difficult to get the bandwagon rolling again.”

“It was after the Lord Mayor’s Show and we did not get anywhere near the heights of Saturday.”

With Wolves and Cardiff winning last night, Villa are now seven points behind the Welsh side and ten behind the leaders.

The Verdict

Bruce was in a really tough position as if he’d made changes and they’d lost he would be getting serious criticism for changing a side that had battered Wolves.

Therefore, it’s understandable that he went with the same team and you have to say the players let him down.

They have played Saturday then Tuesday before, it’s not that demanding, and they didn’t perform. It was a disastrous night for Villa.

Thoughts, Villa fans? Let us know in the comments below.