They prevailed – Gerrard supports Beale after the family was rocked by a car crash

Aston Villa boss Steve Gerrard insisted Michael Beale’s family was a priority and praised his assistant after his wife and children were involved in a car accident on Saturday.

Villa number two tweeted that his family, including wife Roxanne and three children, were safe and well following the accident involving a lorry on the M1.

Beale left the traveling Villa party to check on them before returning to Leicester’s 0-0 draw.

Gerrard said: “Thankfully, Michael’s family is doing well but it’s certainly been upsetting to them. I’ve said many times that the only thing above football is family.

“So we told Michael to go away and make his family a priority. He has. Luckily they are in a good place and it sums up Mick that he really wanted to come back and help the team.

“They are the staff you want, but the priority is that the family is safe. He has small children who were in the car. They’re all fine, they got over it.”

The tie that left Villa 15th in the Premier League ended a run of four straight defeats, leaving Gerrard pleased with his side’s efforts.

Gerrard said: “It’s very positive today that Brendan (Rodgers) has coached this team well and everyone is almost back to full fitness. It’s a really tough game for us.

“He didn’t make as many changes as before and showed us the respect. You don’t get anything for free here, you have to earn it.

“I’m craving more of that, if you can’t win in this league it’s important that you take something from the game because those points improve your league position. Looking at Newcastle and Brentford away we could have been four or five points better if we had defended like we did today.”

Leon Bailey missed a good early chance before Ollie Watkins fired at Kasper Schmeichel but Leicester sliced ​​through a memorable first half despite not forcing a save from Emi Martinez.

Villa tried to force the issue after the break but Tyrone Mings misread a header and Schmeichel batted away Watkins’ angle shot.

Jamie Vardy got off the bench but couldn’t break the block with James Maddison’s late free-kick once someone got close.

And boss Brendan Rodgers will refuse to push Vardy back against Roma after his return to Leicester.

His 19-minute appearance after six weeks with a knee injury was just a second appearance since December following a hamstring problem.

Leicester will now meet Roma in the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg on Thursday and Rodgers will consider whether to unleash Vardy.

“Jamie brings an extra dimension to the game. He didn’t practice much but it was good to put him on the field,” he said.

“We’ll see (if he can start against Roma). We’ll chat with him after the game and see how his recovery is. He’s been out a long time and we might not rush it if we don’t have to.

“I was happy for the players. Last time Aston Villa played we played four games and it’s a lot. I thought the players gave their all. Maybe because of the games we’ve played, the speed in the last third of the course might not be quite as good for us.

“You have to show your resilience, if you don’t make the breakthrough, you can’t lose it under any circumstances.”