Aston Villa axe Gabriel Agbonlahor from squad amid shisha pipe investigation

Gabriel Agbonlahor was left out from Aston Villa's squad to face Chelsea on Saturday after the striker was pictured smoking shisha pipe on holiday in Dubai.

The former England international will not play in the mean time while the club carry out an internal investigation into his conduct. Agbonlahor is the second person to be axed form Villa this week following the departure of head coach Rémi Garde. Agbonlahor was removed from the squad by caretaker boss Eric Black because he did not want anything to "distract his players."

"I'll speak to him again on Monday and then we'll take it from there. He's back in and reporting for training. I'm not going to go into the details because the investigation is on going. I want us to get back to football and football alone, he said."

Agbonlahor, 29, has played 12 games for Villa this season, scoring just once.  

Villa are currently 12 points behind the safety zone, and have a very slim chance of staying up this season with just seven games left to play. However, it is still mathematically possible to avoid relegation to the championship.

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