Before their match against Leeds, Dean Smith sounded mildly irritated by the focus on the injured Jack Grealish and Aston Villa’s inability to win a
Premier League game without their captain this season. “We are not a one-man team,” the Villa manager had insisted, before his annoyance was forgotten and his argument validated by an accomplished victory.
Anwar El Ghazi’s early strike was sufficient for a merited win at Elland Road, as Villa made light of their captain’s absence and stifled Leeds with a mature, composed away display. The visitors restricted Marcelo Bielsa’s expansive side to few sights of Emiliano Martínez’s goal, pressed to telling effect in the first half and countered strongly in the second. Leeds’ frustration was encapsulated by the sight of Bielsa furiously pacing up and down his technical area in the final stages, bellowing instructions that went ignored. For the first time in four matches this season, Villa delivered without Grealish as their conductor.