Steven Gerrard set for Anfield return as Aston Villa take on Liverpool on December 11 - kick-off 3pm; follow our live blog and watch free match highlights from 5.15pm on Sky Sports website and app
Saturday 11 December 2021 12:46, UK
Steven Gerrard is returning to Anfield for the first time as a manager when he leads Aston Villa at former club Liverpool on Saturday - and you can watch free match highlights of the game shortly after full-time with Sky Sports.
Gerrard has made a brilliant start to life as a Premier League boss after joining Aston Villa from Rangers, who he led to a 55th Scottish Premiership title last season.
Since his arrival, which came after Dean Smith was sacked following a run of five successive defeats, the 41-year-old has won three of his first four matches in charge of Villa, with the only defeat coming in narrow fashion against champions Manchester City.
Gerrard's latest win as Villa boss was a 2-1 victory against Leicester and it was made all the sweeter for the former Liverpool midfielder given it came against his old manager at Anfield, Brendan Rodgers.
The question now is whether Gerrard can do to Jurgen Klopp - the man who gave him his first coaching job in Liverpool's academy - what he did to Rodgers when Aston Villa face Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday to continue his flying start to life as a manager in England's top flight...
Liverpool host Gerrard's Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday, December 11 (3pm kick-off).
You can follow the game with our live blog on the Sky Sports website and app from 1.30pm - and get details of the starting line-ups from Anfield as soon as the teams are announced at 2pm.
You won't need to wait long to see the match highlights - we'll bring them to you for free from 5.15pm on the Sky Sports website and app, as well as on our Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.
Gerrard's return to Anfield promises to be an emotional occasion for the former Liverpool captain, whose move into management was facilitated by Klopp, the man he dreams of one day succeeding.
Ahead of his return to Liverpool with Aston Villa on Saturday, here, we examine his coaching journey so far, including...
Following Aston Villa's 2-1 victory against Leicester last Sunday, Gerrard was asked if there were any sentimental thoughts in his head ahead of the game against Liverpool.
He said: "None, none at all. I just want to go there and try and win and try to take what we can.
"We are not competing with Liverpool in terms of the level we are both at, at the moment, but we'll certainly go there and give everything we've got.
"We took City to the wire and I believe we should have got something out of the game with our second-half performance. So, we go there with confidence and belief, with three wins out of four and we go and try and make it as difficult as we can."
Klopp believes Gerrard has had the "perfect" coaching career so far, one that can help him become a potential Liverpool manager one day.
"In England you have some club legends and think 'could he be the coach?" Klopp told Sky Sports in November. "When Frank Lampard took over at Chelsea everyone thought 'that makes sense', but then where can he go from there?
"Stevie is doing everything right so far, getting some experience here with the academy, taking his coaching experiences to Rangers, being very, very, very successful there, then he had made the next step. So far it has been the perfect career.
"While I'm here, it's difficult but of course [he can be Liverpool's future manager]. But it is important that from now on that the Steven Gerrard Aston Villa chapter starts and that's exactly what will happen."
This season, you can watch highlights of all Premier League games with Sky Sports for free and without being a Sky Sports subscriber.
We'll bring you highlights of every Premier League game on the Sky Sports website and app for the majority of games shortly after full-time.
The highlights of games kicking off at 12.30pm and 3pm will be published at 5.15pm that day.
You'll also be able to watch in-game goals from Sky Live games on Twitter and our match blogs, and you can catch Premier League highlights on our Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.
Anybody in the UK can watch highlights for free on the Sky Sports app or the Score Centre app on your iPhone or Android. Still not got our app? Download it here:
Sky Sports' digital platforms are the home of live blogs for every Premier League game, including commentary, analysis and team line-ups. Sky Sports customers can also watch in-game clips from Sky Live games in our dedicated live blogs.
