Steven Gerrard will be looking forward to and feeling confident ahead of Aston Villa's fixture against Crystal Palace this weekend, thanks to a fantastic win in his debut game as the new manager against Brighton.

The side stole the show in the final ten minutes of the game with both Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings finding the back of the net in the last moments of the game to secure a 2-0 victory and the Villans first three points in five games.

Crystal Palace away will be no easy challenge for Gerrard's side as he's set to come up against former playing rival, Patrick Vieira.

The pair were competing in the league they now manage in, almost two decades ago as players for their respective clubs, Liverpool and Arsenal, so it will be an interesting battle of two Premier League legends turned football managers, which we imagine will be a competitive spectacle in the Selhurst Park dugout.

Gerrard will be buzzing with a fantastic injury boost as Douglas Luiz is back in training and available for the clash with the Eagles this weekend.

The popular Brazilian took to Twitter on Tuesday to confirm that he was back to full fitness.

He posted a picture of himself training and wrote; "It's so good to be back."

The midfielder was sidelined with a hamstring injury, which meant he missed the last three games for Villa, and unable to make his mark upon Gerrard's arrival a fortnight ago.

That said, it represents a wonderful early boost for the Liverpudlian as Luiz had started every game this season bar one before the injury blow, demonstrating his importance to the team. As a result, he will be expected to make an appearance in the starting lineup on Saturday, should the manager feel that he is ready to play.

So far this term, he ranks as Villa's highest-graded player in the whole team according to WhoScored, so his return will be huge.

Another player that has made his return from injury this week is Egyptian winger, Trezeguet, who was also spotted in training sessions in the run-up to the 3pm kick-off on Saturday.

Aston Villa will be hoping to take all three points from the game against Crystal Palace to move even further away from the relegation battle that they could easily get caught up in if they don't pick up a good number of points before the new year.

In other news: Luke Hatfield drops Aston Villa January transfer claim