Steven Gerrard has said he is disappointed his integrity has been called into question before the former Liverpool captain brings his Aston Villa side to Manchester City, but admitted the dream scenario would be if his current and former club make a profit on the latter day.
If Villa take points from City they would hand the Premier League title to Liverpool, keeping Jürgen Klopp’s win at home safe for Wolves, but for Villa the sole focus is on trying to secure a top-half finish in the top division for the first time since 2011.
Questions were raised about how Villa would handle last week’s home match against Liverpool, as they battled it out before losing 2-1. Gerrard’s roster against Burnley on Thursday was subsequently scrutinized for signs he was resting players ahead of the City game, but only Danny Ings as a replacement was a notable break from the recent norm and that followed the striker’s passing. four games in the previous 21 days started.
Gerrard said “the phone was busy” leading up to the end of the season final and himself raised the issue of integrity. “As for Liverpool, I fully understand and respect the outside noise and the questions that have been coming my way for some time,” said Gerrard. “They are involved in a title race and I spent a lot of time there. It’s disappointing when people call integrity and point it at me or Aston Villa or one of my players. We go out at the weekend and give everything we have to get points for Aston Villa and our supporters. If that inevitably helps Liverpool, great.”
Gerrard believes Klopp and Pep Guardiola, who is the strength of their respective teams, have created a buffer between them and the rest of the league. “When I played there was a lot of talk about the top four and over a period of time that became a top six,” said Gerrard. “But I think it’s become quite clear in the last two or three years that with the consistency of Jürgen and Pep since Jose [Mourinho] left – he finished second to Manchester United just before he left – they have been the strongest teams for a long time and a gap is opening.
“In terms of my experience of being back in the Premier League, they were by far the two best teams we’ve dealt with. Very different: one trying to hurt you with playmaking and possession and the other trying to hurt you do with speed and intensity they are both extremely consistent and have top managers they both recruited very well over time and had a lot of time to work with the team so its no surprise they get the results they get .”
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Gerrard knows Villa faces a difficult task as City have only lost twice at home in the competition and have not dropped points in successive league games since December 2020. “They have world-class players and a top manager, but there’s a lot of pressure on them over the weekend,” he said. “We’re going to get there as best we can and try to make it as difficult as possible. Why? want to be in a better place than 14th and we need some more points.”
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