Steven Gerrard has explained how competing against the likes of Pep Guardiola is one of the reasons he decided to become a manager, with the Aston Villa boss preparing to welcome Manchester City to Villa Park on Saturday.
The West Midlands club have endured a nightmare start to the new season, losing four of their opening five Premier League matches and scoring just four goals. Villa's only win so far this season came against Everton last month, with Gerrard's men securing a 2-1 victory.
Gerrard has now suggested that Saturday's clash with City provides him and his coaching staff with an opportunity to test themselves against 'the best in the world'. Speaking about Guardiola in his press conference ahead of the match at the weekend, the former Liverpool captain lauded the achievements of the Catalan.
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"That’s the reason why I decided to go on a coaching journey, from a personal point of view, to challenge myself against the best in the world," he said. "The name and the person, Pep, speaks for itself. What he’s done in the game as a player and manager is very impressive.
"Tomorrow is another opportunity over the 90 minutes for myself and my coaching staff but more importantly the players to go and give a good account of themselves.
"There’s no better fixture for us to try and bounce back from [Wednesday] because no one’s happy with recent results."
Despite coming up against a City side that has won four of their opening five matches, many of them in impressive fashion, Gerrard also insisted that Villa would be aiming to make it 'extremely hard' for the visitors. City have scored 19 goals so far this campaign, with striker Erling Haaland grabbing nine of them — including two hat-tricks.
But Gerrard is still looking to take the game to Guardiola's side. He added: "It goes without saying that you’re playing against one of the best teams in the world. They’re littered with world class stars and arguably the best manager out there.
"That’s the challenge for us. We’ve run this Manchester City side close on both occasions that I’ve personally competed against them with this team.
"The plan will be to make it extremely hard for them and to take them to places where they don’t want to go. We don’t want to go into the game – because of what’s happened so far this season – with any fear around the place.
"We need to have belief and confidence and make it as hard as we can for them. When the time comes to show our quality, like we have done against Manchester City last year when we had an opportunity in the final minutes with young Carney [Chukwuemeka] to snatch something.
"We know we can hurt this team. We’re looking forward to the game."
City came from 2-0 down to defeat Villa 3-2 on the final day of the 2021/22 season to retain their Premier League crown, thanks to a brace from Ilkay Gundogan and a goal from Rodri.
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