Steve Bruce calls for calm following Aston Villa's poor start

A haul of just seven points from the opening seven Championship fixtures has piled pressure on Bruce, who has vowed to come out fighting.

Villa were held to their second home goal-less draw in the space of four days by Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.

Saturday’s draw with Brentford was met with loud boos from supporters who have become increasingly frustrated.

After watching his team miss a host of chances to beat Boro, Bruce said: “In times like this you have to stay strong, fight the flak and pull together.

“I think we should have beaten Middlesbrough.

“We had a poor performance on Saturday but there’s no need for the hysteria that goes with it. We understand we’ve had a bad start in terms of points but in terms of some of the performances we’ve put in.

“You stay with it and stay positive and create chances and take them.”

Villa played for an hour against ten men after the club’s former winger Adama Traore was dismissed inside four minutes for a lunging challenge on Conor Hourihane.

Henri Lansbury was then shown a straight red card for tripping Marvin Johnson on 64 minutes as the numbers were evened up.

The midfielder had early been denied by Boro keeper Darren Randolph, who also saved superbly from the returning Jonathan Kodjia.

Robert Snodgrass hit the bar from close range, while Hourihane had a shot blocked on the line by team-mate Scott Hogan.