Aston Villa praise Abraham's performance despite late defeat to Leeds

By Sam Preston

Aston Villa approached their match against table-toppers Leeds United with the attacking gusto that has come to characterise their recent revival under Dean Smith and raced into a 2-0 first half lead.

Tammy Abraham and Conor Hourihane netted within the opening twenty minutes as Villa stunned Marcelo Bielsa’s side with a high-tempo start to the match, which really should have been enough to win the game.

But Leeds have silk and steel in equal measure this season and Villa are experiencing something of a defensive crisis themselves and those two factors combined to provoke a second half collapse.

Two second goals within five minutes got Leeds back on level terms just past the hour mark and from then on, Villa’s nervousness told.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Kemar Roofe netted a last minute winner to kill off Villa’s hopes of a good result against a promotion rival and Dean Smith must ensure the psychological impact of that hammer blow does not impact their busy festive period.

If they are to get back on track right away, Abraham’s red-hot form must continue and there is a spot of hope for Villa fans in how smartly he took his opening goal.

That did not go unnoticed as their fans poured praise on Abraham despite the despair of losing that late goal and we’ve collected some of the best reaction…

https://twitter.com/Steven_Whiting/status/1076908048835403776

https://twitter.com/G33Jacob/status/1076903118737231873