Brad Friedel and Blackburn were on the receiving end of a stinging defeat when Aston Villa took away a 4-0 result from Ewood Park on Wednesday evening.

The Rovers started out well and Villa keeper Scott Carson got the chance to redeem himself from last week's England blunders against Croatia with three great saves before Norway striker John Carew headed in the opening goal in the 29th minute.

A penalty kick foul on Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 53rd minute earned Rovers captain Ryan Nelsen the red card and Gareth Barry fired home from the spot.

With nine minutes left, Agbonlahor set up Ashley Young to make it 3-0 and substitute Marlon Harewood was first to the rebound after Carew's shot to add a fourth in the last minute.

Blackburn are still occupy ninth place in the Premiership. They will have a chance to make amends for the home fans on Saturday when Newcastle visit Ewood Park.

Scoring
AV - John Carew 3 (Ashley Young) 29'
AV - Gareth Barry 2 (PK) 53'
AV - Ashley Young 2 (Gabriel Agbonlahor) 81'
AV - Marlon Harewood 1 89'

Line-ups
BLA - Brad Friedel; Andre Ooijer, Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen, Stephen Warnock, David Bentley (Morten Gamst Pedersen 82'), Brett Emerton, Aaron Mokoena (Steven Reid 67'), David Dunn, Roque Santa Cruz, Benedict McCarthy (Jason Roberts 67')

AV - Scott Carson; Wilfred Bouma, Olof Mellberg, Martin Laursen, Zat Knight, Gareth Barry, Stilian Petrov (Craig Gardner 82'), Nigel Reo-Coker, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor (Marlon Harewood 85'), John Carew