Chris Sutton could be left red-faced after Philippe Coutinho and Aston Villa verdict

Former Aston Villa striker Chris Sutton claims Philippe Coutinho is a "tremendous talent" but has questioned whether the Brazilian can remain consistent until the end of the season.

The 29-year-old joined Villa on loan from Barcelona in January and has started the last six league games after making his debut against Manchester United seven weeks ago.

He turned the tide of the game and netted his first Villa goal to salvage a point against United as Villa were 2-0 down until his introduction in the second half.

Since then, Coutinho has built up his level of fitness and is looking every bit a word class talent. And Gerrard claims the Brazilian was "above the game at times" in Villa's 4-0 win over Southampton last time out.

"It was a pleasure to be in the stadium," Gerrard said.

"I thought his quality today was high level. He could have gone for goal himself but sets Douglas Luiz up for a tap in and that goes to show what type of team player we’re dealing with here.

"Ollie [Watkins] goes through and could have got Phil another assist but Fraser pulls a top save off. For me he was man-of-the-match and he was above the game at times."

But ex-Premier League striker Sutton still has question marks over the Brazil international, despite him contributing to six goals in his first seven games for Villa.

"He couldn’t get into the Barcelona team with two different managers," Sutton said on BBC 606.

"If you look at his record over the last couple of seasons, you’d have seen what happened at Bayern Munich, at Barcelona, he couldn’t get regular games.

"In patches, he has played well for Villa and he is a tremendous talent, but can he keep it going over the long haul? Let's wait and see."

Coutinho will no doubt be hoping to prove