Members of the local and national media gathered at Bodymoor Heath on Thursday afternoon for Steven Gerrard’s pre-match press conference.
Aston Villa’s head coach previewed Monday night’s clash against Nottingham Forest as the club prepare for their first Premier League visit to the City Ground since 1998.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“Matty Cash is back in full training and he’s available for Nottingham Forest. Calum Chambers has done half of the session today and he’ll continue to pick training up from now until Monday. He’s got a decent chance to be involved.
“Ludwig Augustinsson will be out for around three weeks – he’s got a hamstring injury on the back of the Leeds game. We’ve also got Leon Bailey, who has got a small muscle issue. He’s a doubt for the weekend but he’s not totally ruled out.
“In terms of Lucas Digne, it’s a complicated one that’s going to rumble on for a few more weeks before we can assess it. I’ll have some news on Digne in a couple of weeks, but he won't be available for Forest.”
On recent results…
“There’s been an improvement but what I will say is we need to keep striving for more improvement and better results.
“I felt as if the weekend was a missed opportunity to take maximum points – not just on the back of them going down to ten men, but on the back of the opportunities we created.
“On the overall performance, we did enough to win that game.”
On Villa’s position in the table…
“We’re a goal away from being around the mid-table places. If we score against Leeds, we’re in a much healthier position.
“We’ve got another opportunity against Forest to go away and try and build on our recent performances and try to get an away win. If we do, we’ll creep closer to where we want to be.
“Recent performances have given us a platform but there’s no one on the inside at Villa who thinks we’re there. We know we’ve got to keep pushing in every way, shape and form.
“Once we get players where we need them, we’re a good team, and we’ll be where we want to be.”
On Nottingham Forest…
“To sign 23 new players in one window is unique. I’ve never seen it or heard it before. I know at Villa they had a window where they had a lot of loan players and they had to replace them. I understand that and I’m sure Steve was in that position because he had a lot of loan players.
“They recruited really well and signed a lot of good players. From where I am, to think about how you’d deal with that and manage that, it would be extremely tough and challenging.
“I think he (Steve Cooper) deserves the time for that to settle, for them to get used to the club and how Steve plays. That takes time.”
