Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has called today’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace a “reward” for his players’ hard work. Since his arrival at Villa Park two weeks ago, Gerrard says the players have “applied themselves fantastically well” as they looked to turn around their poor run of form. Goals from Matt Targett and John McGinn steered Villa to a victory at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon and Gerrard was full of praise for his men.
Steven Gerrard said: “It’s a really big win. The players deserve a lot of credit for that, we’re asking a lot of them. I demand a lot. I’ve been in for two weeks and I must say the players have really applied themselves fantastically well. Today’s the reward for all the work they have put in. In the second half, we had to dig in, we had to suffer at times. But at this level, you have to accept that. You have to roll your sleeves up. I thought at times today we played with real quality and we could have scored more goals ourselves.”
While buoyed by today’s result, Gerrard k nows his focus has to turn to the visit of Manchester City on Wednesday. The occasion will mark Jack Grealish’s first return to Villa Park since his summer move to Pep Guardiola’s side.
