So far this season, under the guidance of Dean Smith and then Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa have won seven, drawn one and lost 10 of their 18 Premier League games, scoring 24 goals and conceding 28 in the process.

Their previous league outing saw them concede three times in their loss against Chelsea at Villa Park thanks to two Jorginho penalties and one headed goal from Romelu Lukaku.

One player who was involved in the defeat to Thomas Tuchel's side that Gerrard should now consider dropping from the team is Tyrone Mings.

The ccntre-back failed to have any sort of defensive impact in the Boxing Day encounter, not registering even one tackle or interception or blocking any shots, as well as losing three of his four duels. This display earned him a disappointing overall match rating of 6.1/10, making the £28.8m-rated man the lowest-rated outfield Villa player on the day according to SofaScore.

Birmingham Mail also picked up on the England international's shaky performance by saying that he "should take the blame for what proved to be Lukaku's winner after he opted to block his run as opposed to going to meet and challenge it," suggesting that Mings could be seen as a liability for Villa at the back.

Even though he will miss Villa's next Premier League match against Brentford on Sunday after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Chelsea, Gerrard should definitely consider keeping the 28-year-old out of the team beyond the next game, especially if whoever comes in to replace him at the weekend can impress.

Having been labelled a "cocky" player in terms of his style of play by pundit and former Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie, Mings has been under the spotlight for his poor performances and errors on the pitch in the past.

Looking ahead to the Brentford game, with an overall season rating of 6.8/10 from WhoScored, Kortney Hause could be the one to come in for the 28-year-old at the weekend.

If this is the case and Hause can put in a solid performance and potentially keep a clean sheet, he could be the one to keep Mings out of the team for the foreseeable future.

In other news: Gregg Evans drops injury update at Aston Villa which will leave fans delighted