James Collins believes Aston Villa must resist any attempts to prise away Ashley Young from Villa Park.

Villa have already lost the services of Young's England colleague James Milner to Manchester City this summer.

Now Young is being continually linked with a move from Villa although the midlands club are adamant no bid has been made for his services.

Central defender Collins said: "It is vitally important we keep hold of Ashley.

"Any club wants to try and hold onto their best players if they can.

"Ashley is right up there with the best players at the club and we will be busting a gut to hang onto him.

"Unfortunately James Milner left. But we've got to put that behind us and kick on."

Meanwhile, Villa midfielder Stephen Ireland will undergo a scan on Monday to determine the extent of his hamstring problem.

The former Manchester City player suffered the injury in the warm-up ahead of today's home encounter with Everton.

Villa caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald said: "Stephen hurt his hamstring in the warm-up.

"We will get the scan done on Monday and take it from there.

"He felt a tightness and there was no point in trying to play because, if he ends up getting injured for six to eight weeks, we can't afford that.

"He is a wonderful player."