Revitalised Steven Gerrard eager to kick on at Aston Villa

A critical summer for the club and its manager is looming ever larger on the horizon but the message from Gerrard to his players is the current campaign is far from finished.

Hopes of making a late charge toward the European places might have evaporated with back-to-back defeats to West Ham and Arsenal, yet securing the club’s first top-half finish for more than a decade is still very much achievable, while Gerrard has been keen to note the importance of finding positive momentum during the final run-in.

This promises to be a pivotal few weeks for those players yet to prove they can be part of a squad to properly challenge the Premier League’s elite. There are some, you suspect, upon whom Gerrard has already made his judgement. The message, now hinted at in several press briefings, is there are some weaknesses in Villa’s team which can only be fixed once the transfer market reopens. Midfield is one area the manager has gone on record to confirm as one area he wants strengthening.

In the meantime, of course, he must demonstrate he can get consistent performances out of the current group. For whatever reason, Villa feel like a team who have failed to live up to their potential this season. Gerrard this week referenced the difficulty of taking of a team midway through a campaign and it is an entirely fair point. Yet now 19 matches into his reign, it can only be used as a statement of fact than an excuse. The importance of establishing a feelgood factor with some positive performances to close out the campaign shouldn’t be disregarded.

“I have had a bit of a break and had a chance to get back and see my family and friends, so I will go back in fresh for the remaining games,” said Gerrard. “Hopefully we can put ourselves in a good spot and build from the summer.

“Hopefully we can get there in a good place and a full pre-season will be really important.”

In addition to avenging October’s capitulation at home to their rivals, tomorrow also gives Villa the chance to improve their underwhelming record against the Premier League’s top eight.

The defeat to Arsenal prior to the international break means they have taken just four points out of a possible 36 from matches against those teams above them in the table, a statistic of which Gerrard is all too aware.