By Aston Villa FC

Steven Gerrard hailed the homegrown influence that helped Aston Villa beat Norwich City 2-0 at Carrow Road on Tuesday night.

Both goals were made in the Academy, with Jacob Ramsey scoring a brilliant individual effort before Carney Chukwuemeka put the ball on a plate for Ollie Watkins to seal the victory.

And the Villa head coach was glowing with praise for Ramsey’s all-action display and Chukwuemeka’s influence off the bench.

Aston Villa take on Norwich City.

“I thought his [Ramsey] performance was outstanding,” he said.

“His goal will surely be up there for Goal of the Month – a little tight one-two, then he shows the change of speed to get to the box, goes down his weaker side, apparently, and scores a goal with that power.

“A top goal, a top performance. It was also very pleasing to see Carney come on and get an assist as well.

“We asked him to come on and get in around Gilmour because he was seeing too much of the ball, and he did that job for us.”

From the off, the visiting Villans set about the hosts and put them under pressure for long spells, controlling possession and creating chances.

Norwich City v Aston Villa

Coupled with a strong defensive display that limited the hosts to three shots on target, Gerrard was pleased with his team’s performance.

He said: “To come here and win in the way we did was really pleasing.

“It was a really strong away performance – we kept a clean sheet and there were a lot of top performances within the group.

“Two fantastic goals that have come from the Academy as well. It’s been a challenging week behind the scenes. We’ve lost a couple to COVID, we lost Naka, so we’ve been challenged in different ways.

“Staff members have stepped forward to replace staff members who are out, and players are stepping forward and stepping up, which is what we need.

“It’s nice to win and move back into the top ten. Now we need to recover in the best way possible for Burnley.”