Aston Villa team selection reveal shows Steven Gerrard's experiment before Leeds United

Steven Gerrard sprung a few surprises for Aston Villa's friendly with Molde today.

The Villans faced off against the Norwegian club in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Villa Park in a game which kicked off at 1pm.

Gerrard is trying to keep his players fresh ahead of their return to Premier League action against Leeds United in midweek after two weeks without a fixture.

Most Premier League clubs are in FA Cup action this weekend but Villa exited the competition at the third round stage to Manchester United last month.

Villa defeated a weakened Brentford side 2-1 in a friendly earlier this week.

January signings Robin Olsen and Calum Chambers played against Brentford and both of them started versus Molde on Saturday afternoon.

Chambers was used in defence alongside Tyrone Mings, according to Molde's official Twitter account, while Gerrard experimented with his midfield options.

The highly-rated Carney Chukwuemeka played alongside John McGinn and Douglas Luiz in the engine room, which saw Jacob Ramsey pushed slightly further forward.

Philippe Coutinho returned in time from international duty with Brazil to take a place on the bench, where he was joined by Morgan Sanson, Ashley Young, Kortney Hause and a host of youngsters.

Olsen; Cash, Chambers, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Douglas, Chukwuemeka; Buendia, Watkins, Ramsey

Sinisalo, Sanson, Young, Coutinho, Hause, Chrisene, Iroegbunam, Feeney