Bertrand Traore has questioned the man-management of Steven Gerrard as he reflected on a whirlwind couple of seasons at Aston Villa.

The winger was bombed out by the Liverpool legend when he was in charge Villa Park, but now he is playing a key role under the leadership of new boss Unai Emery.

Traore netted as Villa defeated Leicester City this week and as he reflected on recent times at the club, he called out Gerrard's approach to him.

He explained: “Some things I can’t control like injuries and other things. Under the previous manager I was pulled out of the first-team squad and went training for two weeks with the under-23s before I went out on loan. It was really frustrating for me.

"But that is behind me now and I am just focused on what I have to do on the pitch to try to help the team and give love to the fans.

"It feels good for me now because I travelled a lot the last two seasons with a lot of injuries and had some trouble with the previous manager. The new manager gave me a new chance. I came back from my loan injured and had to work hard to get fit and then the team was doing well.

"I have to work hard to get back in the team but I think I am in a good place and will keep on working hard. This manager knows about me from before when I played against his teams a lot of time. He believes in me and I think he is on my side and I want to give back so he doesn’t believe in me for nothing.”

Villa’s form has been transformed since Emery replaced Steven Gerrard in October, with only the top two of Manchester City and Arsenal having won more Premier League matches in that time.

On the possibility of landing a European spot this season, Emery said this week: “The possibility is being closer. In my mind is to have always the objective, and one of them is to try and be close and take the option (to get into Europe).

“We are very proud of our work. We are very proud of our supporters. We are very happy. We are not thinking the way we did. The past is very important, the position now we are, we have a lot of wins.

“To get into the top 10 has been very difficult. Now to get in a position for Europe is going to be more difficult. We are going to be demanding, we are going to be ambitious. We are going to be realistic.”