Gerrard hopes to hand Philippe Coutinho his Aston Villa debut against Man Utd at weekend ahead of first training session

STEVEN GERRARD is hoping new boy Philippe Coutinho will prove he is ready to face Manchester United on Saturday.

The on loan £140million Barcelona midfielder linked up with his new team-mates at Bodymoor Heath on Tuesday.

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And Villa will analyse his fitness over the next couple of days to determine how close he is to being ready.

Gerrard said: “Philippe will be with us on Tuesday.

"We’ll analyse him on Wednesday to see how he’s feeling.

“Then we’ll look at the data to determine if he plays - but we are hoping to have him involved.”

Gerrard said he believes the Brazilian can make a difference for him with Trezeguet and Bertrand Traore at the Africa Cup of Nations and Leon Bailly injured.

He said: “We knew we’d got an injury with Bailey and we’re losing a couple to AFCON.

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“So we are short in that area, it’s not fair to throw kids in.

“There’s a lot going on in the number 10 area but we felt we needed another body who could make a real difference with his quality.”

Villa fell to a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford last night.

Coutinho has faced Manchester United 11 times during his career and only been on the losing side twice.

He memorably scored a stunning long range strike against them for Barcelona in the 2018/2019 Champions League knockout stage.

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