Key takeaways from Villa Park as Leeds United took another important Premier League point back to Elland Road.
Leeds United’s impressive run of form continued with a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa that could have gone even better. The Whites went ahead through Anton Stach’s brilliant free-kick and that looked set to be the winner until substitute Tammy Abraham provided the sucker-punch.
Daniel Farke’s side produced a near-perfect first-half performance, with Stach’s 30-yard free-kick capping off an opening 45 minutes in which he and his teammates got the better of Villa. But a change of momentum inevitably came and despite defending well for large parts, Leeds conceded late on to see three points turn into one.
Anton Stach’s cult hero status cemented in song
The free-kick capped it off, an inch-perfect effort that completely caught out one of the world’s best goalkeepers in Martinez. Anywhere closer to the Argentinian, or with any less power, and he’d have saved it. That’s his second dead-ball goal of the season and it was good enough for the Villa Park away end to re-assign a fan-favourite’s chant for their German midfielder.
‘It could be 20 yards or 30 yards, Stach is scoring goals’, sang the Leeds fans and it’s a fitting song choice, given the feeling Leeds’ German midfielder could be their new Mateusz Klich - for his off-pitch personality as much as anything. Performances like Saturday will do little to harm his emerging fan-favourite status.
A balanced battle for the England back-up striker role
The TV cameras will usually pick Thomas Tuchel out of any match he’s attending and so it seems the England boss was not at Villa Park on Saturday. But two of the players seemingly competing for one squad place were on either side, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ollie Watkins leading their respective lines.
Calvert-Lewin had the better of the first-half, holding up play well and chasing down Leeds balls in behind the Villa defence, but he also missed more than one good chance. Watkins struggled throughout, however, snatching at an opportunity of his own and proving unable to fight off the physicality of Joe Rodon or Jaka Bijol.
Indeed it was a third English striker who made the biggest impact, Abraham coming off the bench to loop a somewhat fortunate thigh finish over the head of Calvert-Lewin. He and Watkins might both have been pleased to learn Tuchel had commitments elsewhere.
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Leeds United’s away-day struggles
Had Abraham’s effort been headed off the line by Calvert-Lewin, and had Leeds held on to claim all three points, this final takeaway would likely have focused on the incredible defensive resilience of Farke’s side. But Abraham did score, and the Whites had to settle for an admittedly impressive point instead of three.
Make no mistake, a point at third-place, Champions League-chasing Aston Villa is worthy of praise, but during the first-half it felt the home side were there for the taking. Unai Emery's changes altered the momentum, however, and Leeds were unable to get a grip back on the game once it had been lost.
Doing so is not easy when you are the inferior side the majority of the time but if Leeds are to leave an away ground with three points before May, they and Farke need to find a way. Perhaps they don’t need any more victories on the road, such has been their incredible home form, but one win in 14 is a record that needs to be improved next season.
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