Aston Villa midfielder Ashley Westwood has insisted that the club's players are focused solely on Southampton this weekend and not off-field matters.

Villa suspended assistant manager Ian Culverhouse and head of football operations Gary Karsa earlier this week, although no confirmation has yet been given as to why the decision was taken.

Despite this, Westwood says that his teammates only have eyes on this weekend's visit of Southampton to Villa Park.

"We are professionals and we need to get on with the game, train in the right way and when Saturday comes we know we are ready for it," the 24-year-old is quoted as saying by the Birmingham Mail. "Training was fine. It's not really down to us to think about things like that. The gaffer sorts all of that out.

"We were in Tuesday and we know what has gone on, that is down to the gaffer and the club, we are not affected by that. It's obviously going to attract attention but we turned good performances out last year when we needed to. The lads have been there before and we know what to expect."

The Villans are currently 14th in the Premier League table.