Battling Steven Gerrard insist he's up for the fight to save his job at Aston Villa because life at Rangers prepared him for anything.
The 42-year-old is under increasing scrutiny with multiple reports south of the border stating the result of Sunday's clash with Chelsea could play a role over his future. It's understood Aston Villa 's ambitious owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris are expected to be in attendance at Villa Park - a move which has only heaped further pressure on the incumbent boss.
But Gerrard is nothing if not defiant and he is convinced he is the man to turn around a team with only three wins in their last 14 English Premier League games stretching back to last season. The Liverpool icon is adamant he can get Villa trending in the right direction if he is awarded the time to do. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "I lived with a lot of pressure and demand for three and a half years [at Rangers].
"I'm a better manager and person on the back of that. It improved me immensely. At Rangers and Celtic you have to win [the title]. This is a different challenge, I took over a team two points above relegation and on the back of five defeats…the idea is, with time, to develop us and have us operating in a completely different area of the league. We don't believe we're too far away from that.
"At the same time, we have to take responsibility for where we're at right now. I'm very much aware of that, you can't keep saying ifs and buts. It's small margins but we need to prove we can take maximum points off one of these big teams. We need to try and find that level of performance. If we do, things will look a lot brighter."
Gerrard is acutely aware of the growing frustration over his Villa reign - a tenure which is still to reach one year in the Midlands. Amid the boos Gerrard insists he feels energised and is quick to point to the trials and tribulations Sunday's rival Graham Potter endured before Chelsea came knocking.
He added: "I still feel new, fresh, full of energy. I want to [manage] for longer because I enjoy it, but I've got to keep proving I can do this, that's the daily challenge I live with.
"I think Graham very much deserves this opportunity at Chelsea after some trauma and difficult periods at Brighton, he managed to get them where he wanted to in the league. Graham fronted it, he came through that, he was given the time to come through it and he's proved that there are good coaches out there.
"That's what I want to prove here. I want to prove that I can move this team up the league, that we can compete in the top half of the league and that's the challenge that faces me right now."
