Steven Gerrard was involved in an awkward post-match interview with BT Sport reporter Des Kelly after his Aston Villa side were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.Bukayo Saka scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half as the Gunners boosted their hopes of securing a top-four finish.Villa, meanwhile, remain ninth in the Premier League table.Gerrard, who was appointed Villa boss in November 2021 and has done an impressive job so far, took issue with some of Kellyâs questions after the match, telling the reporter directly: âI actually thought your questions would be a little bit betterâ.The Liverpool legend described his opinion of the game before Kelly said: âI donât think you had a shot on target until right at the deathâ¦âGerrard said: âYeah, thatâs exactly how I described the game to you though, isnât it? Not good enough first half and then improved in the second half.âI thought the performance was a lot better second half, but well done for spotting that.âKelly laughed and said: âYouâve made a lot of progress but youâve lost to Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, so thereâs still that gap that you have to closeâ¦âGerrard interrupted and said: âYeah, well done Des for recognising that. If youâd asked me that question I would say the league doesnât lie and Iâd say that Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United, West Ham, Wolves, at the moment, are ahead of us for a reason and thereâs a gap.âIf we want to take one of those places, weâve got to be positive, weâve got to believe in it, we canât be indecisive, weâve got to go grab it off them and really believe in what weâre doing, keep learning, growing, getting support from up above.âRather sarcastically, he added: âBut I do like the way you work those things out pretty quickâ¦âKelly responded: âI think youâre aggressive in the interview and you should tell your players to do the same thing.âGerrard said: âIâll tell you what I am in the interview, Iâm emotional, I care, I donât like getting beat⦠and I actually thought your questions would be a little bit more better, in all honesty. âNo disrespect, Des, Iâm not going to get personal but youâve just said to me thereâs a gap between Manchester United, City, blah blah⦠we know that.âYou also said we got one shot on target towards the end of the game, thatâs how I described the game as well.âAwkward.The manager and reporter both clasped hands as the interview ended but there was certainly a lot of tension there for some reason.
Video: Gerrard's post-match interview after Villa 0-1 Arsenal
Watch the interview here: