Aston Villa put in an assured display against relegation-battling Leeds, sealing a valuable third win in a row in the Premier League.
Villa came into the game off the back of their standout performance of the season, and of the Steven Gerrard era, in a 4-0 home victory against Southampton.
Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring in the 22nd minute after a feisty opening to the game, when Matty Cash cut the ball back for the Brazilian to send it towards goal, taking a crucial deflection off Pascal Struijk on its journey.
The 29-year-old’s goal has taken him to seven goals/assists in four games since moving to the Midlands in January.
Leeds had looked shaky at the back from the off, gifting the ball to Villa players on numerous occasions, most notably when goalkeeper Illan Meslier misplaced a simple pass which found itself heading towards Ollie Watkins, however the striker was unable to control the fast-moving ball from close range.
Chances continued to come until half time, with efforts coming in from the likes of Watkins and John McGinn.
The Englishman had a shot impressively blocked by Luke Ayling with a last-gasp challenge, whilst the Scot attempted to bend a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner, however the keeper stretched to meet it.
The second half began more promisingly for Leeds as they managed to improve their possession in the first 15 minutes and find themselves briefly on the front foot, however Villa secured a two goal cushion in the 65th minute through Cash who beat the recovering Junior Firpo before firing low and hard past Meslier into the bottom right corner.
Danny Ings provided the assist with a cross-field ball to the right back who was completely unmarked with acres of space.
The ‘Polish Cafu’ now has four goals/assists in three games, adding some valuable end product to his repertoire.
Despite the two-goal distance between the two sides, the Villans didn’t rest on their laurels, continuing to push for more goals.
Coutinho almost poked home his second of the game after somehow wriggling through multiple bodies in the Leeds box, but couldn’t generate sufficient power on the shot.
Their persistence paid off pricelessly just 8 minutes after their second goal, when captain Tyrone Mings laid the ball off to centre back partner Calum Chambers who curled the ball deliciously into the top left corner to put the game to bed.
Gerrard’s side were looking like scoring every time they ventured forward, with substitutes Emiliano Buendía and Morgan Sanson impressing and injecting even more energy into their team.
A blunt Leeds failed to threaten, with Villa dismantling most attempts to move up the pitch with ease for the remainder of the 90 minutes, however they did have to play with ten men from the 89th minute after left back Firpo was stretchered off and manager Jesse Marsch had used all of his three substitutions.
Patrick Bamford had his first and final chance late when a side-footed shot from just inside the box flew over, summing up his side’s fortunes.
Their messy defence continues to let them down despite the slight improvement against Leicester last time out, with them often almost orchestrating their own downfall by giving the ball away needlessly or by being caught out of position.
It was stellar performance once again from the visitors as they picked up their third clean sheet in a row and have now moved up to 9th in the table, setting themselves up for a promising remaining eleven games.
The Villans now look forward to a trip to the London Stadium on Sunday to face West Ham United, and will be hungry to continue their impressive winning streak.
Gerrard seems to have found a system that suits the players that Villa have, with talisman Coutinho being the tip of a midfield diamond behind the duo of Watkins and Danny Ings whose chemistry has grown immensely in the last few games.
With the outstanding displays of Coutinho, Emiliano Buendía will find himself hard-done-by since being dropped from the starting lineup, with the issues of no obvious place for him to fit in and the fine form of the figures in his potential positions standing in his way.
Ezri Konsa found himself back in the match day squad today after a couple of games out through suspension and then COVID, however it was only on the bench as Gerrard opted to stick with Chambers after his impressive showing against the Saints on Saturday.
The gaffer now has a positive selection headache going into the West Ham game as the new signing from Arsenal was brilliant once again, and will want to keep benched players like Buendía and Sanson happy, all without disrupting the in-form side.
The club’s aim for steady improvement season-on-season once again looks more than possible, and the squad will be confident they can push for a solid top half finish.
MALACHI OBERY | UTV PODCAST
Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Malachi Obrey – UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
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