Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has rejected suggestions about his side’s concluding Premier League matches against Burnley and Manchester City.
Each game is huge for very different reasons with Burnley battling for their survival in the division while City must win on the final day to clinch their fourth Premier League title in five seasons. However, Gerrard has rejected suggestions that the games are a bigger for the opposition than his side.
Villa have endured an underwhelming campaign and they languish in 14 th spot in the Premier League with just two wins in their last nine matches. Both of those victories – against Norwich and Burnley – were against sides currently in the relegation zone.
While the Midlands club are not involved in the relegation battle this campaign and there is little doubt that Gerrard will be in his position next season, he rejected suggestions that these games were not significant for the club.
When quizzed in his pre-match press conference if these games were not as important for Villa as the opposition, he responded: “No they are not. Maybe that is true from their point of view but I’m not involved in a relegation battle or a title race, I’m the Aston Villa manager and these are both games in which we can take three important points. We will have a full house and we have 20,000 fans on a waiting list to watch us. It is my responsibility to win both games.”
Speaking specifically about the differing challenge on both matches, the Villa boss continued: “We are always learning, we learn more about these players every day. The important thing for us is to focus on ourselves and aim to finish the season as strongly as we can with two positive results. We need to try and improve our league position.”
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Gerrard added: “The two games are obviously different challenges against teams at opposite ends of the league table. We need to prepare for both matches as best as we can and we know that they come in a short space of time.
“All my players will need to be ready, as I will be very surprised if my team is the same for each of those games.”
Villa host Burnley on Thursday night before travelling to Manchester City on the final day of the campaign just three days later. Pep Guardiola’s side need three points in order to ensure they clinch the title ahead of Liverpool, who host Wolves at Anfield.
