Aston Villa manager Remi Garde has admitted that his side deserved the result after they went down 2-0 at Norwich City today.

Goals from Jonny Howson and Dieumerci Mbokani in either half condemned the Villans to their 13th league defeat of the season, leaving them rooted to the bottom of the table with just nine points at the halfway stage of the campaign.

Having watched his charges make progress with draws in their previous two outings, Garde conceded that they had taken a backwards step today in Norfolk.

"I don't think [we deserved anything from the game] to be fair," the Frenchman told Sky Sports News afterwards. "We didn't play as well as we did the last two games. Probably we missed more passes, more opportunities up front, we didn't create enough positions and opportunities to be more dangerous. Today I think Norwich deserved this win.

"We didn't play well enough to win this game or at least to draw it, we defended not as well as in the previous game. The spirit in the team was good but we didn't show enough commitment. When for example we conceded the goal, we [had] a lot of players behind the ball but were not efficient enough. Today to be fair we probably deserved not more than what we have."

Garde went on to reveal that he is focused on hitting the ground running when the transfer opens for business on January 2 with the hopes of making some fast signings.

"I'm working on that as well because it will be very important for us in the second part of the season," he said. "Of course we are going to try to strengthen the team because the situation we are in, we need fresh blood."

Next up for Villa is a relegation six-pointer at Sunderland on January 2.