Aston Villa leave out Gabby Agbonlahor

Caretaker boss Eric Black decided to leave the club's longest-serving player out of his squad, while Villa's new football board look into the striker's behaviour during a holiday in Dubai last weekend.

Agbonlahor was pictured apparently smoking from a shisha pipe and it's thought the bad publicity generated is the catalyst for the club's investigation.

Micah Richards, the club's on-field captain, was also pictured in Dubai during the international break, though his conduct is not being investigated and he remains part of the squad for tomorrow's game.

Black, in charge following the departure of manager Remi Garde earlier this week, confirmed it was his decision to leave Agbonlahor out after speaking to David Bernstein, who chairs the football board.

Black said: "There's an internal investigation, the club have taken that decision.

"I've taken the decision from the footballing side to remove him from the squad just for this game, purely because I don't want anything to distract the players and their surroundings for the game.

"I want that to be purely their focus for the Chelsea game. I will speak to him (Agbonlahor) again on Monday morning and I will take it from there. He will be back reporting for training on Monday."

"The investigation is into the things you have seen in the media.

"I won't go into details because the investigation is still on-going and once those results have come in and the club have made a decision you will find out. I've spoken to Micah, it's slightly different circumstances. He's in the squad."

Agbonlahor trained with the first-team squad this morning but was then sent home for the weekend. He will return to the club on Monday, with any decision on a return to the team being taken by Black, pending the results of the investigation, which is expected to conclude next week.

The claret and blues are currently bottom of the Premier League, 12 points adrift of safety with seven games to play.

And former Villa striker Stan Collymore reckons they should start the cull of their relegation-bound squad by axing Agbonlahor.

He's currently the club's longest-serving player and has more than two years left to run on his contract.

But he's become a focus of fan frustration during Villa's slide towards the Championship.

Collymore, in a lengthy blog post in which he addressed a number of issues at the club, claimed it is now time for Agbonlahor to move on.

He said: "I'm afraid the cull needs to start with Gabby. He's simply been at the club too long now, was rewarded with a new contract at a time of little productivity and he needs a new challenge.

"I'd be more than happy to tell him face-to-face, shake his hand and come to an agreement where he can see out the remainder of his career with a new challenge."

Villa are searching for a new manager after Garde's exit by mutual consent on Tuesday night.

It has emerged former Swansea manager Garry Monk is interested in the post, though David Moyes and ex-Leicester boss Nigel Pearson remain the front-runners.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche, another to be linked, has insisted his focus remains on getting the Clarets back into the Premier League, describing speculation as a "paper story."

Villa's new-look board are in any case ready to take their time before they make an appointment, knowing this is a decision they must get right.

Black takes charge tomorrow, boosted by the expected returns from injury of Adama Traore and Jack Grealish.