Martin O'Neill, the Aston Villa manager, has criticised Stuart Pearce for not substituting Craig Gardner sooner after he complained of an injury during Tuesday's England Under-21 friendly with Poland at Molineux.

Gardner, Aston Villa's versatile midfield player, suffered a thigh injury midway through the opening 45 minutes and immediately made Pearce, the England under-21 manager, aware of his problem. However, Gardner was kept on until half-time before finally being taken off. He now faces a three-game absence, starting with Saturday's Premier League clash at leaders Manchester United.

"It's a thigh injury," O'Neill said. "I don't know whether there were plans for him to come off at half-time in the Under-21 game or not. But Craig did complain about the injury with 20 minutes to go in the first half.

"He made it clear that his thigh was particularly sore and it's disappointing that he had to stay on the field for the rest of the time. Now he misses some games for us."

As well as being ruled out for the game at Old Trafford this weekend, Gardner, who has been operating for Villa as an emergency right-back, also looks set to miss the games against Bolton Wanderers and Derby County.

Olof Mellberg, the Swedish international, will return to the side in Gardner's absence for the trip to Old Trafford.