Gerrard now says ‘fantastic’ Villa player has even more quality than he did

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard will be hoping yesterday’s draw against Manchester City will be this season’s turning point.

The former Rangers manager complimented several players for their efforts against the Premier League champions.

In particular, Gerrard wanted to shower praise on goal scorer Leon Bailey and his performance against Pep Guardiola’s side.

Gerrard said: “I thought Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey were sensational.

“They gave us energy, they gave us time to breathe by keeping the ball, by carrying us up the pitch.

“Listen, Leon’s got much more quality than me.

“He’s been really good since the first day of pre-season, he’s come back, he’s healthy, his body’s good.

“We’ve been managing his minutes at times because of his injuries last year.

“He deserves that goal and he’ll get a lot of credit and a lot of headlines, but this was very much a team effort today.”

Gerrard praises Bailey performance

After a tricky start to the season, Aston Villa raised their game for the visit of Manchester City.

The unstoppable Erling Haaland opened the scoring for the away side.

However, a fantastic equaliser from Bailey was well deserved for Villa.

Gerrard’s side could have gone away with all three points, but an early offside flag ruled out Philippe Coutinho’s wonderful effort.

If deadline day had played out differently, Gerrard might not have been praising Bailey’s performance yesterday.

Villa almost replaced Bailey on the final day of the transfer window, after making an approach for Tottenham’s Lucas Moura.

However, if Bailey can stay fit, he’ll certainly be first choice for Gerrard on the wing if he keeps putting in performances like yesterdays.

Bailey’s next chance to impress Gerrard comes next Saturday, away to struggling Leicester City.