Aston Villa's next cab off the rank as academy ace set to make record books under Steven Gerrard

Ben Chrisene is fully expected to become the next cab off the rank at Aston Villa with the left-back in line to make his Premier League debut before the current season concludes. Villa have six fixtures remaining and, with Lucas Digne ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, Chrisene is expected to be given his big moment.

Last weekend, Steven Gerrard told Calum Chambers and Chrisene to warm up at Leicester with Ashley Young down with what appeared to be a significant knee injury. Thankfully, Young was able to soldier on. However, with Villa's season somewhat petering out, Gerrard is keen to promote yet another academy player given the commitment he's continued to show towards Jacob Ramsey and, more recently, 18-year-old Tim Iroegbunam, with the latter in with a real chance of starting in midfield against Norwich on Saturday.

Back to Chrisene and, should he make his debut from now until May 22, the England youth international will be ninth in Villa's list of their youngest-ever Premier League debutants. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (16 years, six months, 14 days) tops that very list when Tim Sherwood chucked him on for Christian Benteke at Sunderland back in 2015. Gareth Barry is second (17 years, two months, nine days) while Carney Chukwuemeka (17 years, six months, 29 days) is in the top three following his late cameo at Spurs under Dean Smith last year.

Chukwuemeka, who's still yet to sign a new deal, is the Premier League's third-youngest player this season - after his start against Brentford in August - behind Liverpool's Kaide Gordon and Brighton's Evan Ferguson. The Villa man has clocked up nine Premier League appearances but, since contract negotiations broke down again in January, hasn't been involved in Villa's