Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard admits a priority has been to tighten the defence.

New boss Gerrard has taken over a team beaten in its last five Premier League matches, conceding 13 goals along the way.

Only bottom two clubs Norwich and Newcastle have let in more goals than Villa this season and Gerrard explained: "I want to be as entertaining and attractive on the eye as we can be.

"But one thing I would like to instil and improve on is the structure of the team from a defensive point of view, in terms of out of possession in terms of our shape and what we do to win the ball back.

"That is very important to me. I have obviously been lucky over the years to pick that stuff off some world class managers."

Gerrard will have limited time to work with his full squad before Saturday's home match against Brighton, with most having been away from the club during the international break.

He said: "We get very little time to prepare for the game but I have every confidence in myself and the staff we will have the team as best prepared as we can for the challenge in front of us."