Steven Gerrard hints at potential Aston Villa transfer need as Diego Carlos departs on crutches

What a difference a win makes as Steven Gerrard got the reaction he was looking for as Aston Villa got up and running for the season. The head coach labelled the narrow 2-1 win “one of the strongest performances” since he took charge nine months ago, referencing “control, positional play and looking dangerous”.

It was two well-worked goals that did the damage courtesy of a fine Danny Ings strike while, four minutes before time, substitute Emi Buendia tapped home as Ollie Watkins chalked up his second assist of the afternoon. Lucas Digne’s sloppy own-goal made it a tense finish but, in the end, Villa were more than deserved winners. Here’s the talking points from what was a sweltering one at Villa Park…

“We were aggressive and we decided to [play two strikers] to make it about Everton’s three centre-backs,” Gerrard confessed afterwards. “Last week we never put enough pressure on Bournemouth’s back five and we asked more questions of Everton today. I thought we showed more quality in the final third. Both goals were excellently executed. Danny with an excellent finish and he pulled through with an ankle knock so I'm really proud of him."

Villa came flying out of the blocks and put Everton on the back foot after just 44 seconds to win the game’s first corner and, just seconds later, Diego Carlos was furious with himself for missing a header from inside the six-yard box.

Gerrard’s Tyrone Mings’ selection was on-the-money as well with the 29-year-old showing what he’s all about from minute one as he tossed Anthony Gordon to the ground to minute 95 when he put his body on the line to stop Salomon Rondon from bundling in what would have been a gut-wrenching equaliser.

As mentioned having sat with Gerrard at Bodymoor Heath on