Villa are seeking perfection in bid to stun Liverpool

The Reds arrive in the Midlands desperate for a win to stay in touch with title rivals Manchester City, who visit Wolves tomorrow.

A win for Gerrard against his former club would comfortably be the greatest of his Villa Park reign so far but he knows his team will need to be near flawless to achieve it.

He said: “If the outcome is in our favour it would mean my team has gone above and beyond and performed extremely well. That is what it is going to take.

“To get the outcome we want, we need every single player at it, individually and collectively. There is no doubt about it, we need the perfect performance. We will have to probably post the best performance we have so far.”

Gerrard, who played more than 700 times for the Reds, knows there will be plenty of focus on himself but insists his only concern is the performance of his own team.

He said: “I appreciate people will look for headlines of what’s going through my mind, the outcome of the next 90 minutes and how it could affect certain situations.

“But at the end of the day a league campaign at the bottom, middle or top is over 38 games.

“Over the next 90 minutes it’s my job to prepare Villa in the best way I can. Nothing will change. Whoever I represent, I go into the game wanting to win.

“The day I don’t have that urgency to win I won’t be sitting in a seat like this.”