Steven Gerrard: I know what needs fixing at Aston Villa

Saturday’s 2-1 derby defeat at Wolves ended any slim hope of overhauling their rivals during the run-in, while also continuing a rotten record against the division’s frontrunners.

Villa have now taken just four points from a possible 39 against the Premier League’s top eight this term and Gerrard knows surgery is required to his squad if they are to bridge the gap.

Not for the first time in recent weeks, the boss delivered a public warning to his players they are playing for their futures in the season’s closing weeks.

Yet he also hinted that in some cases, he has already made up his mind as to how he wants the team to look next term.

Asked how clear he was in which players were of the necessary quality moving forward, he replied: “It is not just me that’s clear.

“I think we are aligned from the top of the club to bottom. There is work going on in the background.

“My close staff, we all know where we are strong and where we need support, whether that be an individual area or a certain unit in the team. We took over a team 16th in the league and we’ve done ever so well to get into a safe position as of now, by moving up the table into the middle areas. We’ve had opportunities to go and grab positions above us.

“The league doesn’t lie. At the moment there’s a gap to the teams above us. We need to improve over the course of the game and not just turn up at certain points of it.”

Villa’s billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have invested £430million on signings since taking over the club in 2018.

Gerrard is again set to be backed in the summer as he seeks to take the team to the next level.

But he said: “It’s not about talking about figures and amounts right now. I agree what the owners have done for this club has been phenomenal in terms of the support, the backing.

“I don’t think they’ll change because the dealings I’ve had and the communication I’ve had, they’re very ambitious and they want to win football matches, like myself.

“But it’s not the time now to say ‘they’re going to do this, they’re going to do that’. We’re off the back of a defeat and we have to accept that and move on.”