Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard: Festive fixture schedule 'out of order'

Gerrard believes the schedule is particularly unfair on players at a time when many clubs are short on numbers due to positive Covid-19 tests.

Villa, who successfully requested last Saturday’s home fixture against Burnley be postponed due to a lack of players, host Chelsea on Boxing Day before visiting Leeds 48 hours later.

Gerrard is planning for both matches to go ahead but yesterday warned the situation could change “by the hour” and claimed he had no idea on what team he would be able to field.

And he warned Premier League rules which state matches must be played if a club has 14 players including a goalkeeper available risked putting an undue strain on players.

He said: “I don't think those fixtures (on December 26 and 28) are right anyway with full squads.

“So to be asked to play them two fixtures if you've got 13 or 14 available is out of order on the players in my opinion.

“I certainly understand (why) the Premier League want them to continue.

“Obviously with a World Cup on the horizon and a lot of teams in England doing well in Europe it would be nigh-on impossible to get all the fixtures put in if there's more cancellations moving forward so I certainly respect and understand the decision to carry on.

“As long as I live and breathe I'll never get my head around footballers asked to play within that short space of time.”

Gerrard revealed Villa had been boosted by the return of two players and two staff to Bodymoor Heath, following positive Covid tests earlier in the month.

But with players being tested daily, the situation remains volatile. Gerrard confirmed a further Villa player had returned a positive test on Tuesday morning and explained: "If you're asking for any team news and my thoughts on a team, you're wasting your team, I don't even know myself.

“Right now the game, from our point of view, is 100 per cent on. The rules of the PL is that if you have 13 fit and available players the game goes ahead, so as we stand, we're looking forward to and preparing for the game

"What I am saying is, there's still three or four days to go and things are changing by the hour as we all know. So expect things to change.”