Marcus Rashford is playing some of his best football at Aston Villa, says Emile Heskey | OneFootball

Former Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey spoke to Squawka about Marcus Rashford’s start to life on loan at Villa Park.

Heskey gave his thoughts on Aston Villa’s chances of a top four finish and where it’s gone wrong for Leicester City this season.

He also spoke about Liverpool and their chances in both the Premier League and Champions League.

Liverpool are 13 points clear at the top of the table, albeit having played a game more. Do you think the title race is over, or is there still some drama to come?

I hope there’s no more drama to come! But as we know with football, anything can happen. From just before my era, it was Man Utd and Newcastle, wasn’t it? With Kevin Keegan’s little bit of a meltdown. So this is very important for Slot, because he would know a little bit about the history as well.

So he would be thinking to try and keep his foot firmly on that pedal until it’s mathematically impossible for anyone to catch him. But at this moment in time, it still is, so you’ve got to be clever with it. But I still feel they’ve got one hand on it.

Is there anything that has stood out to you as to why Liverpool have been so much better than the rest of the Premier League this season?

Well there are several factors. One thing you’ve got to take into account is what Liverpool have actually done, with a new manager coming in. And I don’t think there have been many changes in the sense of the players coming in and out, but he’s made slight changes within the way that they’ve played. And the players have fed into that. If your players don’t feed into that, it’s a very different season as we have seen with other teams. So I think that’s one of the things you’ve got to take out of it.

He’s very good at in-game changes. So if there are certain things that aren’t going to plan in the game, he’s very good at tinkering with that, either during the game or at half-time, and changing a few subtle things where things are not going to plan. And he’s very good at that.

And then you’ve got to look at the other teams. Man City have been relentless over the years. When you’re looking at what Liverpool have achieved over the years, the points tallies and still lost the league, City have been relentless. So I don’t think you’ll ever get another season where they’ve fallen off the way that they’ve fallen off. The same with Arsenal. There have been times where they could really put pressure on Liverpool, and they haven’t been able to capitalise on that. So I think you could look at everything and say that it’s pointing towards Liverpool.

Some managers can struggle in their first season in the Premier League. Why do you think Arne Slot hasn’t had any significant problems, lifting Liverpool to likely title winners?

I think Arne Slot has had a good side to be fair. He inherited a good side, he inherited a good structure. He’s just had to tinker it a little bit to make it more his own, but he’s had a really good team. I’d still say the squad isn’t as strong as he would have possibly liked to have had. But, team-wise, I think he’s got a fantastic team underneath him.

But he’s also inherited some strange situations, with three of his best players going out of contract. So to manage that as well, it’s been fantastic for him. You’ve got to take your hat off to that. But he has inherited a very good team.

It’s an interesting one, isn’t it? Because Paris Saint-Germain, with all the revenue, all the money that they’ve got to spend, and with all the players they’ve brought in, and the money that they’ve actually spent, have they really fulfilled anything apart from winning the league every year? When you’re talking about Europe, they really haven’t fulfilled much of what you’d like to think they could have. So it’s always going to be a difficult task to beat Paris Saint-Germain but, for me, I think Liverpool have the pedigree, they have the understanding, they have the know how. And I don’t see them losing this game.

Aston Villa are 10th in the Premier League but are just three points behind fifth. Do you think they have the squad to go on a run to qualify for the Champions League next season?

That’s always the tough one, isn’t it? The squad, especially when you’re playing those extra games as they do in the Champions League. And the travelling. People don’t take into account the travelling that you have to do with the Champions League, and what it takes out of you, and the preparation you have to do. And I don’t think they have a big enough squad.

But I think that’s all progress, isn’t it? I don’t think they can just jump into that and think that they’re going to [remain in the Champions League]. We’ve seen it with the likes of Leicester, finishing fifth and getting into the Europa League. And then trying to push into the Champions League, and it’s not quite there. I think you’ve got to build a structure, and they’re slowly building that with one of the best managers out there.

And yes, you say that they’re currently 10th, but like you’re saying they’re only one win away, one good result away from behind in and amongst them. And they’ve shown time and time again that they play some really exciting football. I think they’re just a few players away from building a squad that will be able to challenge up there.

I think so. I think it’s showing that it is. You’ve seen what he’s capable of doing. We’ve seen that time and time again, with what he’s capable of doing. He was in an environment which probably wasn’t allowing him the breathing space to just look at what he can do and take stock of where he’s going etcetera.

Now he’s there at Villa, he can do that. And he’s there under a good manager who has shown time and time again that he can get the best out of players. He’s understanding the structure and, to be fair, if you’re looking at him he’s playing some of his best football.

He’s attacking defenders, he’s taking them on, he’s driving at them. How many assists has he already got in how many games? He’s doing well. But he’s just got to take slow steps to build himself back up, because his aim would be to get back into the national team. I think that’s what he’s got to be looking at. And he’s got a very good chance of doing that, as long as he gets his head down, knuckles down and carries on the work that he’s doing right now.

Do you know what? It’s a very tough task at Leicester. I spoke about it before the season started, and I said that the three teams who came up are going to be struggling and they’re going to go back down. And I still stick to that.

Obviously Leicester had the PSR restrictions and then if they go back down they’ve probably got another problem with that as well. You can’t spend the money that you want to spend in the sense of building a squad that is good enough to challenge to stay in that league. And I don’t think they have a squad that’s good enough to challenge and stay in the league. It’s going to be a very, very tough task for him, especially in the structure that he wants to play as well. He’s a former Dutch international, so there’s a certain style of play that you want, and you’ve got to get the players that understand that style of play. And it’s more indicative to the top half of the table than to the bottom of the table.