‘Stop moaning’ Steven Gerrard tells Saka 

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard seems to be moving OK and has not put on much weight since the end of his playing days, but the trials of life are affecting him.

“I am sitting here with screws in my hips,” Gerrard revealed on Saturday. “I’ve had about 16 operations. I am struggling to go to the gym at the moment. That is all on the back of earning a living in English football.”

Gerrard’s surprise update on his physical condition was prompted by Bukayo Saka’s comments that he needed more protection from referees after being left with a bloodied ankle by a challenge from Tyrone Mings, for which the Aston Villa centre half received a yellow card.

That challenge came moments after Saka had given Arsenal the lead from a move that started when he was fouled by the Villa left-back, Ashley Young.

The body of evidence for the 20-year-old’s complaint — made to the referee, Andy Madley, after the final whistle and then in a television interview — was strong, but Gerrard was initially sceptical when the comments were put to him.

“Have you got any evidence of Saka saying that?” Gerrard, the Villa manager, asked. “He said that we were too rough? And they didn’t commit no fouls today?”

Gerrard then accepted Saka had not been misquoted and paused for a moment, before saying: “It’s part of the game. The last time I checked it is not a no-contact sport. Tackles are allowed, physicality is allowed, aggression is allowed. He’s a good player, he’s an outstanding talent, I love him, but he can’t complain about that. That’s football.

“He’ll learn and he will learn quick,” he added, before concluding, as he skipped lightly out of the door: “Unless we turn it into a non-contact sport, and I don’t think we will.”

Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal manager, was not quite so dismissive, cautioning that “we must listen to the players”, though the statistics are not conclusive. Saka was awarded three free kicks — two from fouls by the 36-year-old Young, who was standing in for the injured Lucas Digne and struggled to keep up with a player nearly half his age until Saka was substituted after 69 minutes.

Saka has been fouled nearly twice as much as any other Arsenal player this season — 43, with Gabriel next on 27 — but is only ninth on the overall Premier League list. Lagging behind him in tenth is Jack Grealish of Manchester City, who perennially topped this particular chart when he was at Villa.

The statistics lend weight to the theory that players from “lesser” Premier League clubs are fouled more, because potential offenders cannot even get near the players at the top clubs, never mind foul them.

Such was the scenario for much of the game on Saturday as Arsenal dominated the first half, playing their silky brand of football, while Villa seemed to stand back and admire.

In the absence of Gabriel Martinelli, who was ill, Saka stood out in particular, while Thomas Partey was a commanding presence when it came to snuffing out any Villa threats at their source. Arsenal should have gone into half-time with the game beyond their opponents, but had only Saka’s goal to show for their efforts, an excellent strike from the D of Villa’s penalty area after the home side had struggled to clear a Cédric Soares cross.

Saka faded in the second half and was replaced — “exhausted”, according to Arteta — by Nicolas Pépé, though he still should be all right to join the England squad this week. Arsenal’s overall threat also diminished, but Villa did not have the quality to strike back meaningfully and Arsenal were comfortably able to register their fifth Premier League away win in a row.