Leeds United 0-3 Aston Villa
by Dom Smith
at Elland Road 

AS GOAL-SHY defender Calum Chambers curled Aston Villa’s third goal into the top corner, those Leeds fans not already heading for the exit stood up and cheered “MARCELO BIELSA, MARCELO BIELSA” proudly. Jesse Marsch looked forlorn. The Whites put in another sloppy performance. There has been no ‘new manager bounce’ for them.

The American will have been hoping the buzz of Elland Road on a midweek evening might have charged his team up to sting the visitors, but Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa were too well-schooled and thanked the hosts for their steady flow of unforced errors.

There was a touch of luck about the opener on 22 minutes, when the visitors’ headline January signing Philippe Coutinho beat Illan Meslier with his right foot. Ollie Watkins felt he’d been pulled back as he lunged desperately but couldn’t quite reach Lucas Digne’s fine cross. Whether he’d been held or not became irrelevant just one pass later, as Poland international Matty Cash picked up the loose ball and pulled back for Coutinho. The midfielder on loan from Barcelona converted via a cruel deflection off Pascal Struijk.