Steven Gerrard: Aston Villa must improve home form in Premier League
Steven Gerrard believes that Aston Villa must desperately improve their home form if they want to reach the heights of where they want to be.
The Villans face Everton in their second game of the Premier League season on Saturday afternoon (13 August) and the first while playing at home.
Talking ahead of the match, the Villa manager admitted that the side’s home form is a cause of concern going into the fixture with the Toffees.
“It (home form) was inconsistent throughout the six months,” he said. “And if we’re to try to get to where we want to in the long-term, home form is always going to be key.
“I’m really looking forward to the atmosphere. When Villa Park is rocking it’s such a big help.
“The onus and responsibility is on us as a team to get the fans behind us with a positive start. Our home form is something that we want to focus on and improve.”
Concerning
Gerrard’s words make a lot of sense as ever since he arrived at the club, the side has only managed to register 16 points from 14 matches with just four wins and eight defeats.
Those numbers are never going to be good enough for the fans as well as the club’s hierarchy who have invested a lot of money in the squad to be close to top-six rather than hovering around the drop zone.
It is important for Gerrard to turn the tide around as well as they’ve won just one out of the last five matches while playing at home in the Premier League while suffering two defeats and drawing the other two.
If Villa could not register a positive result against Everton on Saturday, it will definitely mount pressure on the former Rangers boss and his future will come under further scrutiny.
Gerrard arrived at the club in November last year replacing Dean Smith and signed a contract till the summer of 2025.
Under his watch, Villa have only managed to win 10 matches out of the 29 played across all competitions and suffered 14 defeats in the process whereas five matches ended in a stalemate.
In other Aston Villa news, Paul Merson has backed the Villans to record a win against the Toffees.