Steven Gerrard spoke to members of the local and national media at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday morning.
The Aston Villa head coach faced questions on Wednesday night’s opponents Arsenal and much more.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news...
“Cameron Archer’s a doubt. He’s got a little bit of a hip issue.
“He came out of training yesterday and felt a little bit of discomfort. I don’t think it’s a big issue, I think it’s days. We’ll check on him today.
“Tyrone did a partial session yesterday after his high temperature and not feeling too good. We’re hoping he’ll do a full session today and will be available for us.
“Phil’s issue at the weekend was down to fatigue and cramp. He should be available, and we’ve still got a full session to go before so hopefully we get through that.”
On Villa’s current form…
“You get out of it (tough times) by turning your results around. We’ve shown before that after a difficult patch we can come through it and put patches of games together in a different way and move up this table.
“I’ve been through tough times as a player and in my short managerial reign. I’ve been faced with challenges, heat and pressure, and I’ll accept that and take it on my shoulders.
“There’s no one more determined than me to change this current situation. We haven’t started the season well enough, results haven’t been good enough and I accept that.”
On moving forward…
“I said to the players after the game (West Ham) that we haven’t started the season how we would have wanted but we have a choice between going into a shell and feeling sorry for ourselves and the results continue or we step forward.
“I want my senior players and all my players to step forward. We need our players in the best form possible to give us a better chance to get results.”
On playing Arsenal…
“We’re giving our full focus and attention to Arsenal. Arsenal were in this situation themselves 12 months ago when they didn’t start the season very well.
“They’ve started this season very well and they’ve got a top manager and top players. They’ve had an opportunity to build a really exciting team there.
“We’ll focus on trying to get the right result. They’ve started with a 100 per cent record but for me that’s a fantastic opportunity and a big challenge for me and my players to go and try to ruin that.”
On transfers…
“It’s possible we’ll be doing more. There are one or two things that we’re analysing.
“As I’ve said in previous press conferences, if things go our way we could have one or two new faces in. It’s not as straightforward as people think.
“We’ll try and do our best, and I know people are working hard in the background to try and support me in those areas.
“We’ve spoken before about the blow from (Diego) Carlos because he was a statement signing who was going to come in and help us. Missing him has certainly been felt in the last few games.”