Aston Villa lost to their own U21 side on Friday as Remi Garde watched

A number of first team regulars played the club's youngsters

(Getty Images)

Aston Villa's first-team lost 3-0 to the club's Under-21 side on Friday night in an embarrassing encounter watched by manager Remi Garde.

Villa, bottom of the Premier League, are currently eight points adrift of Norwich City in 17th place, having won just three games out of 26 all season.

With the club out of the FA Cup, French manager Remi Garde played a number of first-team regulars against the U21s in a freindly at their Bodymoor Heath training ground on Friday.

According to Sky Sports, Scott Sinclair, Ciaran Clark, Brad Guzan, Kieran Richardson, Alan Hutton, Ashley Westwood, Jordan Vetetout and Idrissa Gueye were all part of the team.

Leandro Bacuna and Jordan Ayew played for the U21 team.

Garde had even given his players an extra two days off to rest last week with the club not playing.

The Frenchman is expected to again watch the U21s on Monday night as he prepares to make drastic changes to his starting line-up with just 12 games remaining this season.

Villa were thumped 6-0 by Liverpool in their last Premier League game.

Jack Grealish, who has started just one game since November because of injury and off-field issues, could return to the first-team soon.