![\"Morgan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Premier-League-Leeds-United-v-Aston-Villa.jpg\")
Morgan Rogers scored both of Aston Villa’s goals against Leeds United(Image: SmartFrame\/News Images)<\/p>\nJohn Townley’s Aston Villa player ratings after Unai Emery’s side beat Leeds United 2-1 in the Premier LeagueMorgan Rogers scored both of Aston Villa’s goals against Leeds United(Image: SmartFrame\/News Images)<\/p>\n
Aston Villa moved into the Premier League\u2019s top four after coming from behind to beat Leeds United<\/a> 2-1 at Elland Road.<\/p>\n The hosts opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a goal Villa will feel was both poor and avoidable. But Morgan Rogers<\/a> levelled the game shortly after the second-half restart, before the England international sealed the comeback with a stunning free-kick 15 minutes from time.<\/p>\n Leeds broke the deadlock early on when Sean Longstaff whipped the ball towards the back post, where Gabriel Gudmundsson kept it alive. Emi Martinez was then beaten to the ball in the air by Anton Stach. Ezri Konsa\u2019s clearance on the line rebounded straight back off him and over as Lukas Nmecha\u2019s block diverted the ball in.<\/p>\n Moments earlier, Matty Cash had recovered well to prevent Noah Okafor\u2019s progress in the box, but Villa had few such defensive moments after falling behind, with Leeds absorbing pressure effectively and keeping the visitors on the back foot.<\/p>\n Villa\u2019s first opening came in the 27th minute when Cash crossed for Ollie Watkins, but the striker\u2019s header was deflected wide by Joe Rodon – though no corner was awarded.<\/p>\n Ten minutes before the break – six of which were added as stoppage time – Martinez got down well to block Brendan Aaronson\u2019s effort from the edge of the box, before strikes from Cash and Watkins both drifted wide at the other end.<\/p>\n At half-time, Unai Emery turned to Donyell Malen and Ian Maatsen to add pace and poise to Villa\u2019s play, with Lucas Digne and Emi Buendia making way.<\/p>\n Leeds came into the game winless in their previous five Premier League meetings with Villa, dating back to a 3\u20130 away victory in October 2020. Villa, meanwhile, had lost only one of their last 11 top-flight away fixtures at Elland Road.<\/p>\n Malen made an instant impact by setting up Rogers\u2019 equaliser. The Dutchman fired a low ball across goal, and Rogers applied an effective touch at the near post.<\/p>\n At the other end, Konsa made a superb block to prevent Aaronson\u2019s shot from troubling Martinez, before Leeds goalkeeper Perri was called into action by Watkins, who cut inside and fired at goal.<\/p>\n After Leeds overplayed at the back and Ross Barkley was fouled just outside the box, Rogers stepped up to fire a free-kick over the wall and beyond the helpless Perri to put Villa ahead.<\/p>\n Leeds briefly thought they had restored parity moments later when Dan James raced through and squared the ball for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to turn past Martinez. However, replays clearly showed the former Everton striker had handled the ball over the line, and VAR ruled the goal out.<\/p>\n Player ratings<\/strong><\/p>\n Emi Martinez<\/strong><\/p>\n Martinez lost out when trying to claim a high ball dropping from a free-kick after the first contact. Having failed to gather it, Konsa\u2019s clearance then rebounded off Nmecha and over the line. Villa\u2019s goalkeeper did make a smart save to deny Aaronson later in the first half and then again late on to prevent Pascal Struijk heading in from close range. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Matty Cash<\/strong> In the seventh minute, Cash recovered well to deny Okafor space in the box, lunging in at the winger. He also created Villa\u2019s first chance of the game with a cross to Watkins. Another strong display from the right-back. 7<\/strong><\/p>\n Ezri Konsa<\/strong> Konsa\u2019s clearance rebounded into the net off Nmecha from close range, but the defender responded well, making a brilliant tackle on Aaronson shortly after Villa equalised. He also stood strong as Leeds applied pressure late on. 7<\/strong><\/p>\n Pau Torres<\/strong> Torres\u2019 passing range was uncharacteristically poor at times, though he helped steady Villa toward the end of the first half. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Lucas Digne<\/strong> Digne was replaced at half-time as Emery clearly wanted more pace in the side for the second half. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Boubacar Kamara<\/strong> Kamara lost the ball to Gudmundsson in the 34th minute, allowing the full-back to race forward and cross into the penalty area. Like most of his teammates, he didn\u2019t have a great first half but improved after the break, playing more like himself. Ended the game winning the most duels and created two chances as well. 7<\/strong><\/p>\n Youri Tielemans<\/strong> Tielemans returned to the starting XI after Amadou Onana failed a late fitness test on Saturday. He looked forward at every opportunity, though not everything came off. Got stuck in, winning seven of the 10 ground duels he contested. 7<\/strong><\/p>\n John McGinn<\/strong> McGinn came close to scoring Villa\u2019s second of the game when he bent a shot towards the top corner from outside the box. Aside from that, the Scot wasn\u2019t heavily involved going forward and was mostly engaged in battles against Gudmundsson. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Emi Buendia<\/strong> Buendia started the game but was taken off at half-time. He took a free-kick from a similar position to one he scored from against Bournemouth before the international break, but this one went astray. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Morgan Rogers<\/strong> Rogers\u2019 deft flick at the near post put Villa level early in the second half, before he then scored a stunning free-kick to complete the turnaround. He combined well in the final third and impressed throughout. 9*<\/strong><\/p>\n Ollie Watkins<\/strong> Watkins had a few opportunities, including a header and two shots on goal, but remains without a goal in this match. He has scored just four times in his last 31 matches for the club. He was more lively and involved than in previous games. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n SUBS<\/strong><\/p>\n Ian Maatsen<\/strong> (for Digne, 46\u2019): Maatsen saw his drive from the edge of the box blocked in the 57th minute; it might well have been on target for the far post. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Donyell Malen<\/strong> (for Buendia, 46\u2019): Malen made an instant impact by assisting Rogers\u2019 equaliser. He could earn more minutes in upcoming matches. 7<\/strong><\/p>\n Jadon Sancho<\/strong> (for Watkins, 68\u2019): Sancho played on the left and retained possession well for the most part. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Ross Barkley<\/strong> (for McGinn, 68\u2019): Barkley was tidy after coming on and won the free-kick from which Rogers scored. 7<\/strong><\/p>\n Lamare Bogarde<\/strong> (for Tielemans, 84\u2019): N\/A<\/strong><\/p>\n Subs not used: <\/strong>Bizot, Lindelof, Hemmings, Guessand.<\/p>\n GOALS<\/strong><\/p>\n Leeds: <\/strong>Nmecha (8′)<\/p>\n Villa: <\/strong>Rogers (48′, 75′)<\/p>\n What did you make of Villa’s performance? Tell us here<\/strong> Join our Aston Villa WhatsApp group and get the latest breaking news, interviews and opinion sent straight to your phone, plus matchday team news and live updates of all the action. Just click on this link<\/a> and select \u2018Join Community\u2019 to get started. 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Click here to read our Privacy Notice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Townley’s Aston Villa player ratings after Unai Emery’s side beat Leeds United 2-1 in the Premier LeagueMorgan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[422,855,748,393,4884,2922,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-589573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-aston-villa-fc","9":"tag-birmingham","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-leeds-united","14":"tag-premier-league","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115601384493939149","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Whatsapp-storysocial.jpg\")
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