Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has accused the Swiss Football Association of 'mismanaging' the situation surrounding Philippe Senderos's fitness.

The defender is expected to be sidelined for around a month after picking up a calf injury while on international duty with Switzerland last week.

The 29-year-old had only just recovered from a thigh problem, and Lambert believes that the Swiss FA are at fault for the injury blow.

"That's the one I'm not happy about at all, Philippe," Lambert told reporters. "He is the one which has annoyed me the most. He went away with his national team and if you look at his record he has only played six minutes, against West Ham, for a month.

"He goes away with Switzerland and ends up pulling his calf in a training exercise. It's mismanagement from the FA in Switzerland. They should have been in dialogue and seen his record in the first place and that he didn't play for a month.

"It's okay for them to go away and think 'we have only lost a centre-half' but we have lost a centre-half for a month again, who has been a vital part of the team."

Villa have failed to grab a win from their last seven Premier League games.