Aston Villa have undergone a quick transformation for the better under new manager Steven Gerrard within a short space of time. Villa were on a run of five consecutive defeats in the Premier League when senior club officials turned to Steven Gerrard as the replacement forthe sacked Dean Smith. Since then, Villa have been looking up rather than down with Gerrard in the dugout. He has won four of his six league games as the Villa manager and that has propelled the team into the top half of the table. The Liverpool legend met Aston Villa  in the bottom five but he has been able to take them to tenth spot on the back of the away win over Norwich City on Tuesday night.

Steven Gerrard began his Villa career with a win in the Premier League via a 2-0 success at home to Brighton and Hove Albion. Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings scored in the last ten minutes to give Gerrard a winning start following his move from Scottish Premiership giants Rangers whom he won the league title with last season without a defeat.

In his second Premier League game as a manager, Steven Gerrard masterminded a 2-1 away win over Palace. Matt Targett and John McGinn scored the Villa goals, while Marc Guehi scored for Palace. The wins over Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace was followed by two wins in four games under Steven Gerrard with the losses coming against two of the three title challengers namely Manchester City and Liverpool. It must be pointed out that the the defeats were by a lone goal. They lost 2-1 at home to Manchester City for the third league game under Gerrard and a 1-0 loss to hosts Liverpool on the special day of returning to Anfield.