2 hours ago
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It felt like the day Aston Villa’s faint title hopes were extinguished despite Tammy Abraham’s late equaliser. Anton Stach’s incredible free-kick looked set to secure the win for Leeds until the 88th minute but it felt like another important point in their fight for survival.
Unai Emery’s side have only won once in their past four Premier League home games and fell short once more to leave them seven points behind leaders Arsenal. They were punished for a sloppy opening 45 minutes when they failed to get almost anything right against their more aggressive opponents.
The opening 13 minutes passed without incident as the teams sought to find rhythm. Leeds were the first to show some creativity when Jayden Bogle clipped a fine pass over the Villa defence to release Dominic Calvert-Lewin but Emiliano Martínez was quick to react, costing his side only a corner when a goal looked more likely.
Villa were struggling to offer any invention, with Morgan Rogers unable to get a foothold. The hosts were relying on defensive errors for openers, most notably Bogle ignoring his goalkeeper’s calls to collect, before heading straight to Emiliano Buendía who lobbed the ball wide from just outside the box while Karl Darlow was stranded.
Despite the 12 places separating the two sides at kick-off, with one eye on the title and the other a relegation scrap, Aston Villa had only scored one more goal than Leeds this season. It was not much of a surprise to those witnessing this match, as Emery’s team were heavily reliant on set pieces but the execution was poor each time.
Leeds looked more confident and dangerous, with the threat mainly coming from the overlapping wing-backs Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson. In the end, however, it was a free-kick that brought the opener. Ollie Watkins committed a needless foul 35 yards from his own goal and Stach shocked everyone, especially Martínez and the away end, by whipping it into the top corner for a goal of the season contender.
There was greater aggression to Leeds and Villa wilted under the press. Calvert-Lewin was causing problems for the opposition back four with his physicality and clever movement. If this was a battle to be England’s back-up No 9 at the World Cup this summer, the Leeds man was putting Watkins, who spurned a one-on-one prior to the break, in his shadow.
It should have been level at half-time but Darlow produced a magnificent point-blank save from Amadou Onana and reacted to remove the danger to ensure Leeds were ahead at the whistle, which came with a smattering of Villa boos.
Villa made the minimum adjustments by coming back out with greater purpose and energy to increase the tempo. It did not have the desired effect immediately, forcing Emery to seek change from the bench, sending on Ross Barkley and Jadon Sancho to revive Villa.
Leeds backed off Villa, giving them as much time and possession as they liked, losing the menace that kept them on top. Sancho was dangerous down the right against a tiring defence and it was clear Daniel Farke had to intervene to stop Villa from finding an equaliser.
The now vociferous home support felt it had arrived when Buendía smashed the base of a post and Watkins tapped in the rebound but he was rightly called offside. Villa were in charge and had Leeds in a vice.
Villa’s substitutes were turning the game in their favour but it was a Leeds replacement that almost had an immediate impact. Lukas Nmecha, within a minute of coming on, met a Bogle cross with a diving header but Martínez was equal to it.
It was deserved when the leveller arrived, a rare corner that found its target as Ezri Konsa knocked it down to Abraham, who stabbed a volley an inch above Calvert-Lewin on the post.
