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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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:
Aston Villa have won just one of their last six away league matches, in contrast to five victories in their opening six trips this season.
It’s five defeats in nine Premier League games for Dean Smith’s side in 2021 with three wins and one draw.
Leeds can win three Premier League home games in a row for the first time since a run of five from April to August 2001. They have kept successive clean sheets at Elland Road.
The Whites are winless in all four home league matches this season against teams currently in the top half of the table with one draw and three losses. Villa start the game in eighth place.
As it stands
Aston Villa come into the game on 36 points with two games in hand on each of the tip six teams. If they win both games they’ll move up to sixth and be just one point behind Chelsea and a place in Europe next season. It’s still a dream for Villa at this stage but three points against Leeds today would bring a European tour closer to reality.
For Leeds they could spark an outside run at the European places themselves. Three points would take them up to 38 points and place them eighth in the table, five points from the top five. If they can string together a run of wins then a top five finish isn’t out of the realms of possibility.
Dean Smith praised Leeds in the build up to the game saying that he loves watching them play and attributed their good form to manager Marcelo Bielsa. Smith said:
They’re a team that I love to watch play. They’ve come into the Premier League and lit it up, in terms of how they’ve played.
“I have an awful lot of respect for the work that Marcelo Bielsa has done. I’m not sure another manager could have gone into a club like Leeds and made the impact that he’s had on them.
“I look at the players’ physical outputs and they’re doing things now that they weren’t doing before. That’s a credit to Marcelo Bielsa and his tactics.”
Head-to-head
Leeds won the reverse fixture 3-0 and can do the league double over Aston Villa for the first time since 1975/76.
Aston Villa have only won two of their last 17 away league games against Leeds, with those victories coming in January and December 2000.
Team news - Changes
Leeds make just one change to the starting XI that defeated Southampton in midweek with Helder Costa coming in to replace Jack Harrison.
There are two changes to the Aston Villa line up as Ross Barkley and Douglas Luiz drop to the bench with Jacob Ramsey and Marvelous Nakamba coming in.
Leeds vs Aston Villa - Dean Smith on Villa’s injuries
Dean Smith gave an update on Aston Villa’s four main injury struck players, Matty Cash, Kortney Hause. Wesley and Jack Grealish. He said:
Matty Cash is back on the training pitches running. We’ll be guided by the medical department on when he joins in with us.
“Kortney Hause is due to be back on the grass next week and Wesley is getting closer to a full return to contact training, which should happen in the next week or two.
“As I said last week, there’s been an awful lot of speculation where Jack [Grealish] is involved. People speculated how long he’s going to be out for – I’m not sure how they can do that when I don’t know, the doctor doesn’t know and Jack doesn’t know.
“I was very vague last week because it’s a bit of a strange injury. Jack could be back to play against Sheffield United next Wednesday or Wolves next week. We’ll be led by Jack on that.”
Leeds vs Aston Villa - The last fixture
Patrick Bamford was the hero when the two sides met at Villa Park back on 23rd October. Leeds dominated most of the crucial stats, shots, shots on target, possession but Aston Villa hung on until just before the hour mark. Bamford opened the scoring in the 55th minute and netted twice more to complete his hat-trick as Leeds cruised to a 0-3 victory. Can he repeat his heroics at Elland Road today?
Leeds vs Aston Villa - Recent results
Since being knocked out of the FA Cup on 10th January by Crawley Town, Leeds have won four and lost four games in the Premier League. They impressed last time out against Southampton on Tuesday evening as Patrick Bamford, Stuart Dallas and Raphinha all got on the scoresheet. The Whites are 10th in the league and could jump above Aston Villa if they beat them today.
Over the same period Aston Villa have lost four, won three and drawn one in the league. Their last match ended in a 1-2 defeat at home to Leicester City and they have only won once so far in February, a 1-0 win over Arsenal earlier in the month. Jack Grealish is absent once again and Villa have lost all three games he’s missed since their return to the top-flight in 2019.
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