Leeds vs Aston Villa LIVE: Result and reaction from Premier League fixture tonight
Follow all the action live from Elland Road
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Your support makes all the difference.Follow all the action as Leeds welcome Aston Villa to Elland Road in the Premier League this afternoon.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side are in high spirits after a dominant 3-0 victory against Southampton last time out, with Patrick Bamford adding a 13th league goal to his tally this season. That victory saw Leeds move 13 points clear of the relegation zone and they are now just five points adrift of sixth-placed Liverpool in what has been a brilliant first season back in the top flight.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, will be wary of succumbing to a slump in the absence of their talisman, Jack Grealish. The captain’s shin injury has seen him miss the last two matches, with Villa lucky to take a point against Brighton before losing against Leicester last weekend. Dean Smith’s side remain in a terrific position in the table, though, and a top-six finish is certainly within reach, trailing Liverpool by just four points while also boasting two games in hand. Follow all the action live below:
Leeds 0 - 1 Aston Villa - El Ghazi
5 mins: GOAL! Another corner from Aston Villa is played deep into the far side of the box. Jacob Ramsey collects the loose ball and passes it inside to Ollie Watkins. He shoots from the edge of the box but the shot is going wide of the right hand post. Anwar El Ghazi runs in behind, keeps the ball in play and slots it past Illan Meslier with his left foot. Villa take an early lead!
Leeds 0 - 0 Aston Villa
3 mins: Rapid start to this game. Villa win a corner that Anwar El Ghazi fires into the box. The ball goes over Bamford and hits Luke Ayling on the left arm. Villa appeal for handball but Ayling had no idea the ball was coming and his arms were by his side. No penalty.
Leeds 0 - 0 Aston Villa
Kick off: Aston Villa kick off the match with a long ball down the left wing. Diego Llorente wins the ball and knocks it back to Illan Meslier in goal. A simple long ball bounces for Patrick Bamford who is able to get in behind the Aston Villa defence. He cuts inside onto his left before taking a shot and slipping. The shot heads wide of the far post and Raphinha is unable to meet it and turn it into the net.
The teams make their way out onto the pitch. There’s a good chance we’ll see some goals in this one. There have been 86 goals in Premier League games featuring Leeds this season, the most of any Premier League team.
Aston Villa are attempting to win away against all three promoted teams in a top-flight season for the first time since 1980/81. Since they returned to the top flight in 2019, they have lost 2-1 in all three Premier League fixtures without Jack Grealish.
Ollie Watkins has faced Leeds seven times without scoring - it’s his longest wait for a goal against any league side.
Dean Smith on Leeds
I think there are an awful lot of similarities between the two teams. We got to the Premier League a year earlier than Leeds and we had our struggles last season.
“We lost a few of our key players to injuries for the season – Wesley, John McGinn and Tom Heaton. We had our struggles and we managed to stay up.
“Leeds have hit the ground running and found that it’s a real tough league and you can be inconsistent. They’ve done fantastically well and there are similarities between how both teams play.”
Patrick Bamford has scored 13 Premier League goals this season, the joint-most by an English player alongside Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Bamford has scored in all five of Leeds’ home league wins this season. They have only taken two points from the seven games at Elland Road in which he hasn’t scored.
All but one of Aston Villa’s 11 league victories this season have been earned with a clean sheet, but Villa have lost nine of the 11 matches in which they’ve conceded.
Villa have kept a league-high seven away clean sheets, one shy of equalling their club top-flight record.
There has not been a draw in any of the last 16 league fixtures between the sides: Leeds have won eight and lost eight.
Leeds have scored 43 league goals this season, their highest tally after 25 matches of a top-flight season since they won the title in 1991/92.
Bielsa on Aston Villa
Aston Villa are a team that play very well, they’re consistent.
“In that game we were in a very high version of ourselves and in the 20 games since, they have had ups and downs and so have we.
“I think Aston Villa observed the changes they needed to make from last season and they found solutions to the positions they thought they needed to improve.
“They managed to conserve the players that showed they had the level to play in this competition and they have some young players who complement the project and make it efficient.
“The goal is always to resolve the next game and to resolve the next game normally makes you maintain your position or improve it.
“Of course, we hope to play sufficiently well to deserve to win and in the case we get a positive result, we will see how it reflects on the table.”
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