The last time Steven Gerrard had to swallow four successive defeats was eight years ago, a time when he was still playing, patrolling the Liverpool midfield, dovetailing with Philippe Coutinho and his manager was Brendan Rodgers. That same autumn, an Aston Villa team led by Paul Lambert featuring Philippe Senderos, Carlos Sánchez and Kieran Richardson had just lost six Premier League games on the spin. On Saturday Coutinho will be on the pitch at Leicester’s King Power Stadium, where Gerrard will share the touchline with Rodgers as his Villa side seek to reverse a slide that has hampered their hopes of a top-half finish.
A fifth straight league loss would represent uncharted territory for Gerrard, whose Rangers side won the Scottish Premiership title unbeaten last year. He is wise enough to acknowledge that pressure and stick from pundits is probably “in the post”. The obvious caveat is that Villa’s defeats came against clubs chasing European football (West Ham, Arsenal, Wolves and Tottenham). Gerrard recognises that such context softens the focus somewhat, but given that is a stage to which they wish to return, the way they have slipped to 15th, eight points above the relegation zone, does not sit well. “Whether it be out there now if we were playing you lot [the media] in an eight v eight game, I don’t like losing,” says Gerrard, looking towards the training pavilion at Bodymoor Heath.
