Aston Villa set for Good Friday friendly match with Premier League rivals

Aston Villa will travel to Brentford on Good Friday to play a behind-closed-doors friendly against a youthful Bees side, has been told. Steven Gerrard is returning the favour to the Londoners after Thomas Frank's fringe squad travelled up to Villa Park during the international break back in February.

Head coach Gerrard wants to inject some much-needed minutes into those who have been struggling for game time in recent weeks with the likes of Robin Olsen, Calum Chambers, Kortney Hause, Morgan Sanson, Emi Buendia and Bertrand Traore all expected to feature. Carney Chukwuemeka, Tim Iroegbunam and Marvelous Nakamba are also expected be in action, as will a few of Villa's under-23s.

Back in February, Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings scored in the friendly with Brentford in B6 after Villa went a goal down via a Josh Dasilva strike. Villa have developed a healthy relationship with the Bees off the back of the big-money transfers involving Watkins and Ezri Konsa.

Villa, meanwhile, have just seven matches remaining of the campaign and will use tomorrow's friendly as preparation for their run-in which begins at Leicester on April 23 and concludes at Man City on May 22. As for Brentford, head coach Frank will oversee his side take on Watford in the Premier League on Saturday, meaning Villa will be up against their 'B' team plus those in need of game time.

Speaking last week after his side's 4-0 defeat by Spurs, Gerrard was asked if he's learning on the job given the same mistakes keep propping up. He said: "You learn to a certain extent that when the same things keep rearing their head, in my position, maybe you have to do something different. Or, you have to wait for the opportunity to bring someone different in.

"In terms of