Dean Smith grabbed the opportunity to praise some of his less celebrated players as Aston Villa enhanced their European prospects without Jack Grealish.
The Villa boss noted that watching England manager Gareth Southgate would have been impressed by left back Matt Targett. He namechecked holding midfielder Marvelous Nakamba as ‘good with and without the ball’ and hailed the improvement of teenager Jacob Ramsey, preferred here to Ross Barkley.
It was the day Villa officially stopped being a one-man team as they broke a run of defeats whenever Grealish isn’t on the pitch.
Anwar El Ghazi’s early goal coupled with Emiliano Martinez’s 13th clean sheet of the season proved enough to eke out a gutsy win at Elland Road and have fans talking about a return to Europe after a decade away.