“We came here to win the game and on chances we could have done that.

“It is a tough game here; they are well coached and a clean sheet was the least we deserved. We’ll take a positive point away, and that is a good base for the next two games.

“I thought Ollie Watkins was fantastic second half; he did lots of running and gave the Leicester defence a tough time.

“All that was missing today was a goal, but the chances keep coming so a goal will come. We had some good play and overall, probably shaded the chances.

“I crave more of these.

“If you can’t win, in this league, it’s important you take something away because these points improve your league position come the end of (the season).

“If I look at Newcastle away, Brentford away, if I look at other situations, we could have been four or five points better off by defending like we did today and that’s a positive and a base for us to go into the Norwich game.

“The Norwich game will be different. The onus will be on us to go and create and open the door, I’m sure it will. It’s critical we go into that with the right mentality and attitude because those three points are vitally important.”

“Off the back of four defeats, this was a really tough game for us. You’re not given anything here, you’ve got to earn it.

“Tim Iroegbunam, I spoke about before, he was the most ready to come in and help us. Dougie was on a yellow card and I didn’t want to go to 10 men because it was important to stop the losing run. It was important we kept a clean sheet and I thought Tim was terrific today. He played with calmness and maturity. He’s going to be looking at me all week for more game time now!

“We believe Tim’s ready. It’s only a matter of time before he becomes a regular in this team. It’s my job to control the timing of that, to keep educating him. Villa have got a good player on their hands.

“He’s a top professional. He’s in the gym before training, after training.

“He needs to come out of his shell. He needs to find his voice because now he’s in men’s football and we think the world of him.

“He’s got a big future here. But it’s my job to manage his game time, to prepare him for a big career.

“The academy have done a superb job on Tim and he’s got a lot of attributes that will help Villa moving forward.

“The target is to try and win as many games as we can, try and get as many points on the board as we can and try to finish in a position from which we can build. Then we can look for the right players to try and have a strong pre-season.”

Steven Gerrard.


“It was good to be back again with the boys, and I was happy to be back again on the pitch. I’m very positive about it.

“We got a point with a clean sheet away from home, and I think we will now look up to the next match [Norwich City]. We did well collectively as a group, and we just need to push ourselves and keep believing like the gaffer [Gerrard] is telling everyone. He is pushing everyone together as a team.

“First of all, it was frustrating to be injured and to be watching, but I was supporting the boys, I was there supporting them at the home games and a few away games, and I was also involved with everyone in the dressing room. I have felt the support of the last four months, while I was injured, everyone from inside the club, players, technical staff, everyone inside.

“We just have to push ourselves to keep believing and also to focus game by game. It’s Norwich next game at home with the fans behind us, we just need to stick together as a group and also with the fans that are believing in the players and supporting the players. We just have to keep on pushing ourselves.

“I was very pleased to be back and see the fans supporting us all the way from the start until the end. It’s good, and I think they always push every player like every time, whether we play home or away, the Villans are always loud.”

Marvelous Nakamba.