wicked.football

Steven Gerrard has urged Aston Villa to be “positive and bold” as they return against Wolves with the intention of cutting the gap to the team directly above them.

Aston Villa will take on their Midlands rivals in a Saturday 3pm kick-off. After back-to-back defeats before the international break, they go into the game 10 points behind their hosts, with a game in hand.

Gerrard has brought some stability to Aston Villa since replacing Dean Smith midway through the season. However, he has regularly acknowledged they still need more consistency to aspire to the higher berths.

Opponents Wolves have been able to find that under Bruno Lage this season. They have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe for next season.

Villa could still mathematically catch them in eighth place or beyond, but Gerrard must take things step by step. Still, he wants to see the appropriate response from his players at Molineux.

He told a press conference: “I’m looking for a reaction and a better level of performance over the 90 minutes.

“Wolves have been terrific this season. They’re well coached, they’re well organised, they’re always in games and they’ve got big talents throughout the squad.

“They’re above us in the league, we’ve got a game in hand and an opportunity to claw some points back, so it’s a big game for us.

“It’s always a game with a rivalry, and it’s very interesting for both sides. I’m really looking forward to the kick-off.”

Gerrard aiming for better Aston Villa away record

In the bigger picture, Gerrard wants his players to improve their record on the road.

He said: “We’re a team that wants to go everywhere and win games. We want to be positive and bold. The message will be clear, we’re going to try and get the win that we want and that we need.

“Picking the bones out of it and analysing the group, there have been times away from home when we haven’t won where us being a bit grittier or having a bit more experience about us, we could have taken at least a point away.

“That was the case in the last away game (a 2-1 defeat at West Ham). The second half was a big improvement on the first and if we’d been a bit more clinical or creative in the final third, we might have taken a point out of that game.”

Gerrard will have a healthy complement of players to pick from when his squad take on Wolves.

He confirmed: “Lucas Digne has come through 90 minutes with France, we are at full health.

“Marvelous Nakamba will play between 45 and 60 minutes for the under-23s tonight.”

READ MORE: Cut-throat Steven Gerrard wants to replace Villa man with Prem star as priority revealed

The post Steven Gerrard seeks Aston Villa ‘reaction’ to improve necessary theme appeared first on TEAMtalk.