Steven Gerrard makes Philippe Coutinho prediction as big Aston Villa decision looms

Aston Villa head coach Steven Gerrard has backed Philippe Coutinho to rediscover his best form before the season ends.

The Brazilian has failed to register a single goal contribution in Villa's last six games and the club will make a decision whether or not to take up the option to sign the 29-year-old permanently in the coming weeks. Villa have a £33million option to keep Coutinho at Villa Park for the foreseeable future, but his inconsistencies have raised issue.

He has started 13 games consecutively for Villa after arriving on loan from Barcelona in January and Coutinho made seven goal contributions in his first eight appearances for the club, but has since struggled to make an impact on games as Gerrard's side endured a sticky spell of form.

Villa ended a run of five games without a win in the Premier League by beating Norwich City 2-0 at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon. And Gerrard thought Dean Smith's tactics nullified the Coutinho's threat well.

Gerrard said: "They got some real key blocks in on Phil today when he came in from the left he had a couple of opportunities and Norwich have defended them really well. It will click and come back without a doubt.

"He’s got quality and you can see every time he’s on the ball the excitement that he brings. He’s not going to be man of the match and on top of the world every week.

"I thought Emi came on and looked really exciting. We have got two really exciting number 10s at our disposable and we’ve got different types of number 10s.

"Danny Ings played there at moments today and he runs in behind, Leon Bailey is more of a dribbler and ball carrier. We’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of options at the top end of the pitch, but I need them all to be a little bit more