Aston Villa come from behind to beat Leeds United at Elland Road | OneFootball

Aston Villa came from behind to beat Leeds United at Elland Road thanks to a brace from Morgan Rogers.

Two second-half goals from Rogers were enough for Unai Emery’s side to take home all three points after Lukas Nmecha put Leeds ahead early on.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a goal disallowed for handball that looked to have his side level instantly after Rogers put Villa ahead but the goal was ruled out for handball from the striker.

Leeds had every reason to be apprehensive going into the match with only one win in their last six Premier League matches. A run of form made to look even more worrying when compared to Villa’s three wins in their last four. Especially when those matches include victories over Manchester City and Bournemouth.

However, it was Daniel Farke’s side that came racing out of the blocks, going ahead after just nine minutes. Sean Longstaff’s free-kick caused all sorts of problems in the Villa box when it was spiralled up into the air. Anton Stach beat Emiliano Martinez to the ball and headed goalwards. Ezri Konsa then thought he had cleared the ball off the line before it bounced back into the net off a grateful Nmecha.

Emery’s men did have chances after Leeds opened the scoring, but Emiliano Buendia’s free kick from 25 yards out sailed high over the bar. Some heroic defending from Joe Rodon made sure Ollie Watkins did not equalise before the half-hour mark and Matty Cash would later hit a half-chance just wide, but other than those few flashes, Villa offered very little in the first half.

But two substitutions from Unai Emery got Aston Villa back into the match.

The Frenchman brought on Ian Maatsen and Donyell Malen for the second half, and the latter made an instant impact to bring Villa level two minutes after the break. The winger drove into the area before playing a low ball across the face of the goal for Rogers to tuck home.

The two substitutes allowed Villa to dominate the second half as Watkins and Leeds’ own Noah Okafor forced Lucas Perri into two important saves to keep the score level.

Despite Perri’s best efforts, Villa would eventually take the lead through another goal from Rogers. The England international left the Italian goalkeeper rooted with a free kick from just outside the box expertly placed into the top corner with 15 minutes to go.

The goals in the game were not done yet, as just two minutes later, straight from kick-off, Calvert-Lewin had the ball in the back of the net, but it would not count. Dan James broke in behind the Villa defence and played the ball across to the striker, who bundled the ball into the goal, but it would not count after a VAR check proved that Calvert-Lewin used his hand.

The win puts Villa into fourth place, three points clear of a Liverpool side that lost 3-0 to Nottingham Forest the day before.