And England centre-half Mings, 29, was an unused substitute as Villa started the season with a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday.

"When I made the decision over the captaincy, I set him that challenge," Gerrard told BBC Radio WM.

"We said to Tyrone 'if you get back to your consistent best, you'll be back in the team'."

At the time, Mings said he had "no issues" with losing the captaincy but asked after Saturday's game if Mings' omission was down to his reaction, Gerrard replied: "It's a little bit of that.

"He's also missed some training time with an injury and there's a niggle in the background as well.

"When Tyrone is back at his best and looks me in the eye and shows that he's ready to play, he'll get opportunities."

Asked if Villa missed Mings' presence on the pitch at the Vitality Stadium, Gerrard added: "I think people might talk about that.

"The easy thing to do after a defeat is look at the people who weren't on the pitch.

"We had enough quality on the pitch to win that game. I'm confident of that."