Aston Villa defender Zat Knight admits teammates have treaded carefully around Scott Carson since his England nightmare.

After victory over Middlesbrough, Knight revealed: "We decided to wrap Scott in cotton wool a bit. But having said that, I don't think he's ever had so many pass-backs in one game as he had here.

"It was good for him to get this out of the way. He's got the clean sheet and pulled off a few good saves.

"We didn't tease him, you make mistakes in football and you get on with it."