Steven Gerrard delivers clear warning to Manchester United with Aston Villa target

Steven Gerrard wants Aston Villa to challenge Manchester United and the other sides above them in the Premier League pecking order next season. But he admitted it will take further backing in the market to achieve that with Villa.

Having sacked Dean Smith and replaced him with Gerrard in November, the Villans have moved up to ninth place in the league, but their last two matches have ended in defeat. That includes a narrow reverse against Arsenal on Saturday afternoon, which ultimately strengthened the Gunners' charge for top-four in their battle with United.

Gerrard used his clout and connections to sign Philippe Coutinho on loan from Barcelona in January. He also completed permanent deals for Calum Chambers and Lucas Digne, after his predecessor Smith managed to recruit several new players during the summer window.

READ MORE: Manchester United remaining fixtures compared to top-four rivals

After losing £100million man Jack Grealish to Manchester City, a significant amount of that British-record sum was reinvested into the Villa squad. However, according to Gerrard, that needs to be followed up for his side to bridge the gap on United and others above them in the standings.

During a post-match interview with BT Sport, the former Liverpool captain said: "If you asked me that question, I would say the league does not lie and I'd say that Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United, West Ham, Wolves, at the moment, are ahead of us for a reason and there's a gap and that's what we are striving to do.

"If we want to take one of them places, we've got to be positive, got to believe in it, can't be indecisive and we've got to go and grab it off them, we've got to believe in what we're doing, to keep