Aston Villa: Gerrard has 'headache' over £50m duo at Villa Park

Aston Villa duo Philippe Coutinho and Emiliano Buendia have given Steven Gerrard a headache, believes journalist Dean Jones.

The two Villa players had contrasting days last time out against Everton, and Jones says Gerrard must now decide who to pick when the Midlands club take on Crystal Palace later.

Coutinho, who signed for Villa permanently in a £17m deal back in May, had an afternoon to forget in his side’s 2-1 win over Everton last weekend.

He picked up a yellow card in the first half before being subbed off on the hour mark due to an injury. Gerrard said after the game that the Brazilian was ok, but whatever the case, it was obviously not a great day for him.

Buendia, on the other hand, had a much more enjoyable time as he came on to put the Villans 2-0 up.

It was the Argentine who replaced the injured Coutinho, and he will now be hoping he has done enough to displace the former Barcelona man or another one of his team-mates for the Palace game.

Jones think it will be difficult for Gerrard to leave out Coutinho, assuming that he is fit enough to play today, even despite Buendia’s recent display at Villa Park.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said: “It’s a tough one to leave Coutinho out the line-up. Gerrard really made a push to make sure that Coutinho came in and he’s got big faith in this signing being a success.

“But obviously, when Buendia makes an impact, then you need to take it seriously and he’s going to deserve his chance, so it could be a bit of a headache that Gerrard’s got ahead of the next game. Whether he is brave enough to actually pick Buendia over Coutinho, I’m not so sure.”

Based on his 30-minute cameo versus Everton, he probably deserves to. The £33m attacker, however, just recently came