Steven Gerrard was sacked by Aston Villa following last night’s 3-0 defeat to Fulham (Picture: Getty)

Jamie Carragher believes Mauricio Pochettino would represent an ideal candidate to replace Steven Gerrard following Aston Villa’s decision to sack the Liverpool legend.

The former England captain was dismissed in the immediate aftermath of Villa’s shocking 3-0 defeat against Fulham at Craven Cottage last night and was forced to suffer the ignominy of traveling back to the Midlands on the team bus shortly after being relieved of his position.

Gerrard leaves Villa with the club, who invested heavily in new playing talent over the summer, in a precarious position level on points with 18th placed Wolves after just two wins in their opening 11 games of the Premier League season.

Villa’s ambitious owners have big plans for one of English football’s sleeping giants and were never likely to settle for another campaign of fighting to preserve top flight status.

As such, Villa are targeting manager with a proven track record including the likes of Thomas Tuchel, recently sacked by Chelsea, Brentford’s Thomas Frank and former Arsenal manager Unai Emery.

Pochettino, however, appears to be the early frontrunner given his availability following his departure from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.

Reacting to Gerrard’s departure and Villa’s hopes of the tempting ex-Spurs boss, Carragher told Sky Sports: ‘Any football club has got to be ambitious.

Mauricio Pochettino is one of the favourites to take over from Steven Gerrard (Picture: Getty)

‘Over the last few weeks I keep hearing how ambitious the football club are and that’s why there was more pressure coming on Stevie in the role that he was in.

‘But the names that you’ve mentioned, I think Pochettino would be a great manager, he is a great manager and I think he’d be a top appointment for Aston Villa.

‘You look where Villa are in the table now and Pochettino has just come out of PSG coaching Mbappe and Messi.

Thomas Tuchel has already ruled himself out of the running (Picture: Getty)

‘I’m sure he’d want to be at that level coaching in the Champions League bit if Villa could get that over the line I think that would be a fantastic appointment.’

Gerrard, meanwhile, had vowed to fight on in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic defeat in west London last night, but the die was already cast.

Asked about the Villa fans’ reaction, Gerrard said that he understood their frustrations but vowed never to give up, though he acknowledged his time at Villa Park may be over very soon – and is it turned out, he was gone in the next hour.

‘It was a tough night for me personally, but I’m a man I accept it, I understand it, I share their frustrations and pain and I’m someone who’s honest,’ he said.

‘I know they’re certainly not enjoying it at the moment. I’m certainly not. You know and I know I’m in a very different position right now.

‘I’m a fighter, I’ll never ever quit anything certainly when it comes down to football or anything in life, so we’ll see what happens moving forward.’

MORE : Next Aston Villa manager odds: Mauricio Pochettino the early favourite to replace Steven Gerrard

MORE : Thomas Tuchel has turned down two Premier League clubs since Chelsea sacking

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The 3-0 defeat at Fulham was the final straw.