Former Aston Villa captain Martin Laursen is confident Jores Okore will fight back from his shock knee injury.

The Dane's season is over after limping off in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Newcastle, just his fourth appearance for his new club.

Laursen said: "He will get over this. He will be disappointed for a week or two and then he just has to get on with it.

"Coming back stronger than before must be his goal - to be strong and fit and do everything that he can to be better after he comes back

"You want to express yourself, you want to prove yourself because you know you're good and then you get a big injury and you can't play and help the team.

"That's very depressing, but in a way Okore just has to think that he has proved himself, he knows he has the ability, he knows that he can be a good player in the Premier League for Aston Villa."