Aston Villa: £51.3m duo face 'really key few months' under Gerrard

The final few months of the season are going to be crucial for Aston Villa pair Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins, according to journalist Dean Jones.

Steven Gerrard has struggled to fit both players into his starting XI since he arrived at the club in November from Rangers.

With Gerrard preferring to play a 4-3-3 formation, it always seemed likely that he may be left in a situation where he had to pick either Ings or Watkins when he joined Villa.

For most of his tenure so far, he has gone with the latter, which has meant that Ings has had to settle for a place on the bench at times.

However, he did select Ings ahead of Watkins for Villa’s home match with Watford last month. That failed to lead to a positive result, though, and he opted to change things up again on Saturday as he switched to a narrow 4-4-2 and played Ings and Watkins together up front.

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Watkins managed to score on the weekend as Villa picked up a much-needed win against Brighton after a recent run of poor form.

It would be fair to say that neither Ings or Watkins, who Transfermarkt value at a combined total of £51.3m, have been at their best this season, though, as they have netted just 10 league goals between them.

With this in mind, Jones thinks the period between now and the end of the season will be very important for the duo.

“I think for both of those players, the next two or three months are really, really key, particularly for Ings,” he told GIVEMESPORT.

Gerrard certainly has a tough task on his hands to keep both attackers happy.

On Saturday, he decided to move away from his favoured formation, and it worked as his side got the better of Graham Potter’s men.

However, playing