West Bromwich Albion midfielder Paul Scharner is convinced Aston Villa deliberately targeted Shane Long during Saturday's derby win.

Scharner believes Alex McLeish's side singled out the Republic of Ireland international as he sustained a knee injury following a dangerous Alan Hutton tackle.

"You could see in the first ten to 15 minutes they tried very hard to kick Shane," he said, "I think they got away with it. Eventually he had to leave the field.

"There was some harsh tackling. It looks like he is becoming a marked man. If you are scoring three or four goals by this stage of the season and you are always a threat then defenders will be looking at you."

Goalscorer Jonas Olsson added: "I've not seen the replay but it was certainly a tough tackle.

"When you do tackles like that you have to make sure you get the ball and not the leg. I'm not sure he caught one without the other."