What Emi Buendia did in front of Steven Gerrard as Aston Villa's big problem laid bare after Arsenal

Too passive. Too easy to play against. Too nice. That was pretty much Steven Gerrard's verdict as Aston Villa were comfortably beaten by Arsenal on Saturday. Bukayo Saka's goal on the half-hour mark downed Villa as they lost their 15th match of the current campaign - the exact same amount they managed for the entirety of last season when they finished 11th under previous boss Dean Smith.

BirminghamLive's Aston Villa reporter Ashley Preece was at Villa Park for us on Saturday and he picks out the big talking points as we embark on a two-week break before Wolves away on April 2. The Villa players will now be given some downtime before checking back in ahead of their trip to Molineux...

The boss has said it for a number of weeks now and, after back-to-back defeats to West Ham and Arsenal, Gerrard pointed to being backed in the upcoming summer transfer window to shape his squad how he wants it.

"When we're at home, we need to at least believe collectively that we can take points off these teams, in the short term," Gerrard said. "In the long term, I believe with coaching, support which I believe we'll get, then we can take strides forward quicker. At the moment, where we are, we've got to at least believe to put in a better performance over 90 minutes - not just 45."

The head coach quickly darted off for a chat with Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens who were both in attendance at Villa Park on Saturday. Given the gulf in class between Villa and the top eight at present knowing they're 10 points adrift of Wolves above them, then it's clear a big summer is needed if Villa are to really close that gap in order to get to where they want to get to and that's Europe.

"We haven't taken any points off the top four," Gerrard added. "We've