Moving on from their 1-0 defeat against Liverpool at the weekend, Aston Villa are on their travels once again with a trip to Carrow Road to face Norwich City, pitting Steven Gerrard against former Villa manager Dean Smith.

On the chalkboard

In terms of which players Gerrard could pick to be in his starting XI on this occasion, one player that got some minutes under his belt in the defeat at Anfield that should be in the team from the beginning to take on the Canaries is Morgan Sanson.

After replacing Marvelous Nakamba in the 57th minute against Liverpool, Sanson managed to show to Gerrard what a useful midfield option he can be for Villa.

With 32 touches of the ball, Sanson completed nine passes, complete all three of the dribbles he attempted, win six duels and make two tackles with one interception, showing how good he is on the ball and winning it back for his team in the middle of the pitch.

This cameo performance earned the Frenchman an overall match rating of 7/10 according to SofaScore, making him Villa's joint-second highest rated player on the day alongside Matt Targett.

With this in mind and the fact that Nakamba has apparently picked up a knee injury that could lead to Villa having to sign a new midfielder in the upcoming January transfer window, this could be the perfect time for Gerrard to unleash Sanson from the start to see if he can prove his worth once again.

Labelled as a player that "has a bit of everything" by Smith, the 27-year-old is currently earning a weekly wage of £59k-per-week according to Salary Sport.

Given how Sanson has only made 13 senior appearances for the Villans since arriving back in January, mainly due to injury troubles, it's safe to say the midfielder would be chomping at the bit to finally get a decent run in the team, which could get underway if Gerrard starts him tonight and he manages to impress as he did against Liverpool.

If Gerrard does start against Norwich, Sanson could potentially create a solid midfield partnership with either the likes of John McGinn or Douglas Luiz who both played the full 90 minutes against Liverpool if they start again tonight.

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