Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard sends message to Tyrone Mings after Bournemouth defeat

Steven Gerrard has promised Tyrone Mings that he will be given an opportunity to win back his place in the starting XI by getting returning to his "consistent best" after the centre-back was named amongst the substitutes in Aston Villa's 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth.

Summer signing Diego Carlos started alongside Ezri Konsa in Villa's defence at the Vitality Stadium, but Gerrard's side were undone in the first three minutes as Jefferson Lerma scored after the visitors failed to clear their lines from a corner. Kieffer Moore then doubled the Cherries' advantage with just 10 minutes remaining in the second half with a clinical header.

Asked about Mings' omission and if he was missed in the defeat, Gerrard told BBC WM: "I think people might talk about that, I think the easy thing to do after defeat is to look at the people not on the pitch. We had enough quality on the pitch today to win this game.

"Im confident and have full belief When Tyrone is back at his best and looks me in the eye and shows me he’s ready to play, he’ll get opportunities. He's missed some training time with an injury and there's a niggle in the background as well.

"That's the challenge I set him when I made the decision over the captaincy, we set him that challenge. We said to Tyrone, get back to your consistent best and you'll be back in the team.

Gerrard added: "We haven't lost the game today because Tyrone Mings wasn't playing, for sure, but we want Tyrone to get back to his best physically, he needs to get rid.of the niggle and show on the training pitch that he's back to his best and I'm sure there will be an opportunity for him."