Daniel Farke admitted depleted Norwich City’s battle against the odds was doomed to failure at some point after a crushing 5-1 Premier League defeat to Aston Villa.

Farke was without nine senior players, while the likes of Jamal Lewis, Todd Cantwell and Ben Godfrey all carried fitness concerns into the game.

Villa ruthlessly cashed in on injury-hit City's defensive errors and costly turnovers to inflict a fifth top flight defeat in the last six in what was Farke's heaviest home defeat since taking charge - his 100th league game at the helm.

'A tough day. Without any doubt," he said. "Of course we are disappointed because we showed several times we can beat the odds and produce a big surprise. We were highly motivated to do the same but if I am honest you can't do this on a weekly basis, otherwise it wouldn't be a surprise. There were too many problems, too many odds against us to be competitive.

"We have to accept this loss. We made too many mistakes. We created maybe more than they did in the first half but the mistakes and the goals we were conceded were not good enough.

"The first two goals, crossing situations, we are two against one and the striker scores both times. We have to be better. Then the losses of the ball before the second, third and fourth goals. When my best passer of the ball is losing the ball I can't blame them too much.

"We had so many on the pitch playing with pain killers and they have not been able to train properly this week. So really we are not prepared as we need to be. Then in addition, one or two crucial players do not have their best day."