Steven Gerrard sums up Marcelo Bielsa in one word ahead of Aston Villa v Leeds United

Steven Gerrard is looking forward to the prospect of pitting his wits against Marcelo Bielsa when Leeds United visit Aston Villa on Wednesday evening.

Villa welcome Leeds to Villa Park for their first game in over two weeks because of domestic breaks and FA Cup commitments, and it’ll be the first time that they’ve met this term after the fixture at Elland Road shortly after Christmas was delayed because of a Covid outbreak.

Wednesday night, therefore, will be the first time that Gerrard - a comparative novice in comparison to the mightily experienced Bielsa - is able to cross swords with the notorious Argentine.

He is looking forward to meeting and preparing to get the better of Bielsa, who he describes as ‘fascinating’, and he knows that Villa will need to be at their best against a well drilled Leeds - anything less, and they could be in trouble.

“It’s the first time against Bielsa obviously I was only up in Scotland prior,” Gerrard said. “He’s obviously a very experienced coach and he’s got a world class reputation and rightly so, you know, where he’s been and the challenges he’s had and had success at.

“He’s a fascinating character from the outside. I’m really looking forward to competing against him. Leeds will be a dangerous team. I’ve watched enough of them over the years and recently to know that, on their day, they are capable of beating most teams in the league.

“They’ve got pace, they’ve got goalscorers in the team and they are obviously physically always in a real strong place. We need to be ready physically, mentally and technically to get the right result. If not, we’ll have problems.”