Aston Villa thrash Brentford B in secret friendly as young duo impress Steven Gerrard

It's a case of back to business for Aston Villa's first-team this week after being granted the Easter weekend off by Steven Gerrard. The head coach did, however, oversee a 5-1 friendly win at Brentford on Good Friday prior to a couple of days away.

Gerrard, 41, wanted to have a good look at some of his youngsters who've been around the first-team with the likes of Ben Chrisene, Tim Iroegbunam, Tommi O'Reilly, Brad Young and Hayden Lindley all featuring against Brentford's B team. Villa's squad in west London was a good mix of young and senior players with Bertrand Traore, Leon Bailey, Marvelous Nakamba, Kortney Hause and Carney Chukwuemeka also in action.

Head coach Gerrard was left fuming with his first-team group after his side's 0-4 defeat by Spurs 10 days ago, and used the Brentford friendly as an opportunity to assess those mentioned at close quarters ahead of assembling his group for pre-season. The boss has continued to speak glowingly of the likes of Iroegbunam and O'Reilly, with the pair impressing the gaffer once again.

A huge cull is expected at Bodymoor Heath this summer with a whole host of first-team stars set to depart. Gerrard is keen to add players with real pedigree while also complementing Villa's talented crop of youngsters knowing the manager wants to fight hard on three fronts in the Premier League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup next term.

Gerrard said: "We want to go on a journey with players that are all in, that are going to help us get to where we want to be. We want to add players who are able to come in and make the group better.

"I'm more excited about this than I've ever been because now I've had time in the job to analyse individual players that are in the building, I'm a lot better off in