Steven Gerrard spoke to the media on Friday afternoon as he gave his pre-match press conference to preview Aston Villa’s Premier League clash against Norwich City.
The head coach provided a team news update, reflected on last weekend's positive point at Leicester, looked ahead to the encounter against the Canaries, the return of former head coach Dean Smith and much more.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news...
“Morgan Sanson and Kortney Hause will be missing, we welcome back Bertrand Traoré after he missed the last fixture.
“Obviously, giving Marvelous Nakamaba some minutes as well was a huge positive.
“So, we’re in pretty good shape going into tomorrow’s game.”
On Norwich...
“It will be tough; we’re playing against a team who are fighting for their lives.
“An ex-manager who knows a lot about the club and the players.
“It’s going to pose a tough challenge for us but our focus all week and preparation all week has been about Aston Villa and our team.
“And trying to prepare the lads in the best way to put in a positive performance.
“We need a win, we want to win and we’re going to be as aggressive as we can to try and deliver the three points for our supporters.”
On building upon our point at Leicester…
“I think our performance at Leicester was a base for us to go and build on, I thought we defended extremely well.
“Over the course of the 90 minutes we had the better chances in the game and I think the stats and the facts that came out afterwards backed that up.
“But it’s important we back that up now in terms of going and getting a win.
“We’re at home and it’s followed up again by a team who are fighting for their lives next week in Burnley.
“Two fixtures and two really good opportunities for us to go and show that we’re capable of winning games and winning games back-to-back – that will be the plan over the next week to 10 days.”
On Dean Smith's return…
“We’re very aware that before and after the game there will be some emotion around that, I think that’s thoroughly deserved from Dean’s point of view.
“He did a fantastic job here, he brought the team up from the Championship into the Premier League. He’s a homegrown guy.
“The respect for Dean before and after the game will be there – not just from me, from a lot of staff members and a lot of players.
“But it’s very important that when the game starts, everyone - the fans, the players, myself - we’re all pushing for a really positive result.
“Tomorrow is about Aston Villa and us trying to take maximum points for us to move back towards the middle places in the league, that’s the aim.
“But there will be nothing but respect for the ex-manager before and after the game, for sure.”
On the Premier League table…
“I only look forward, I only look up.
“Tomorrow poses a really good, strong opportunity for us to put in a strong home win, and I’m sure the table can look completely different come the final whistle - if we put in the performance that deserves that.”
He added: “I think the players are well aware of what type of performance we need tomorrow.
“We want to see an aggressive, front-foot performance.
“We don’t focus on who’s favourites, who’s underdogs, what the bookies think or everyone else and the outside noise.
“We prepare in the best way we can, we’ve worked on situations and scenarios that might come up within the game.
“And we try to put the players in a place where they know what to expect from Norwich, so it’s just about going and executing a game plan now and hopefully everyone’s all in to push us towards that.”
