Gerrard downplays helping Liverpool, focuses on Aston Villa's season

MANILA, Philippines – With the 2021-22 Premier League season coming into its final week, it still hasn’t been decided who will lift the most popular trophy in world club football.

Defending champion Manchester City is atop the table with a 28-6-3 slate that is good for 90 points, but Liverpool is right behind with a 27-8-2 record that is good for 89 points. 

Both clubs play their final match of the season in the respective home fields of the Etihad Stadium and Anfield Stadium.

Man City will play Aston Villa on Sunday, May 22 (Manila time) while Liverpool will host Wolverhampton.

A win by Man City will give them the trophy. A draw coupled with a Liverpool win will hand over the trophy to the men in red.

Standing in City’s way and on the flipside — hoping to give his old club an assist of a lifetime — is Aston Villa, which is led by former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, who is managing the Clarets, as the latter club is nicknamed.

Gerrard won nine trophies for Liverpool, has numerous individual awards, and was inducted in the Premier League’s Hall of Fame last year. He is the only English player to have scored in an FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Champions League finals. He also scored the most goals in European play for the club with 41, the most penalty goals for Liverpool with 47, and has the third most appearances in a Reds shirt with 710 games.

He will also have two former Liverpool players in Aston Villa colors that day in forward Danny Ings and midfielder Philippe Coutinho. 

In an interview with Philstar.com, Gerrard avoided all questions about the title race and rightfully chose to focus on his team’s own ambitions.

“The focus at the moment is on Burnley,” pointed out Gerrard. Aston Villa hold serve against Burnley this Friday, May 20.

“They (Burnley) are fighting for survival in the Premier League and we know it will be a difficult challenge. But it will be our last game in front of our home support so it is important that we finish well and get the three points. Then we go to Man City and try to finish well.” 

Aston Villa is at 14th spot in the Premier League with a 13-5-18 record. They have an opportunity to better their position by winning their final two matches that could move them up to ninth. Poor results could see them stay where they currently sit. 

Last season, Aston Villa finished at 11th spot with a 16-7-15 record.

Notwithstanding how Aston Villa finishes, Gerrard looks forward to having a full preseason with Aston Villa as he only arrived in the middle of the season. 

“We been in the job for five and a half months, but we feel there has been progress and improvement,” he noted. “We had a successful window in January where we got Coutinho from Barcelona. We’re hoping to have a very good recruiting off-season and preseason so we can be better and stronger for the next season.”

The English Premier League matches are shown on Premier Sports on Skycable and Cignal, and on the TapGo streaming application.