Steven Gerrard fully focused on Bolton clash to avoid potential upset

Steven Gerrard admits Aston Villa’s Carabao Cup clash with League One Bolton has been identified as a potential upset and intends to treat the tie with “serious importance”.

Villa are bidding for a positive response on Tuesday evening after surrendering an early lead to lose 3-1 at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

Boss Gerrard, who has been frustrated by the inconsistency of his side, is wary of coming unstuck in the televised second-round encounter against the Trotters.

“When the TV cameras come to games like this, we know what the outside world are after so we need to respect that and protect ourselves from that,” he said.

“And we need to bounce back from this result (at Palace) and put ourselves in the next round.

“That’s the challenge for the players and we’ll treat this game with serious importance. We’ll dust ourselves down and be strong.”

Gerrard plans to freshen up his starting XI at the University of Bolton Stadium but will resist the temptation to make wholesale changes.

Meanwhile, Villa have allowed forward Bertrand Traore to join Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir FK on loan until the end of the season.