Leeds at Villa Park, match facts and the season gets interesting

I feel like it’s been so long since we last played, but it’s the FA Cup that makes me feel that way. And it wasn’t a good result against Newcastle and quite a surprising performance, but I’ve written about it, so we go in.

It’s Leeds at Villa Park tomorrow and it’s a great game.

It’s important because we are three points behind Manchester City and if Arsenal do well again this season and we can stay close to Manchester City, we could also get closer to Arsenal.

Not that I think Arsenal will bottle it, but I kind of feel like it’s already written. And if they don’t get three points against Spurs this weekend and Manchester City do, many will continue this narrative.

And it’s necessary that we don’t allow the other Manchester team to catch up with us and although some might believe that the bounce they had with Carrick has bounced back and they are going to fail what Manchester United has become, I hope he wins a few more, is offered a contract and spends some money this summer.

And if that happens, we need to get back all the points we can and we feel like we’ve lost a few recently when we shouldn’t have, so three points tomorrow is important, for many reasons. It’s mainly about making players understand that it’s real.

I’ll be back tomorrow and tomorrow is three points. This is starting to feel very real and we don’t want to do an Arsenal.

Match the BBC Facts

• Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last six Premier League matches against Leeds (W4 D2) and are looking to complete the double against them for the second time in the competition after 1999-00.

• Leeds have lost their last two Premier League games against Aston Villa, most recently losing three in a row between January and December 2000.

• Aston Villa are unbeaten in their 18 Premier League matches against teams promoted under Unai Emery (W14 D4).

• Since the start of December, only Manchester City and Manchester United (1 each) have lost fewer Premier League matches than Leeds United (2), although Los Blancos have also recorded the most draws in this period (7).

• Leeds have won just one of their last 18 Premier League away games (D5 L12), beating Wolves 3-1 in September. Although they are winless in their last 10 away games, five of the last six have finished level, with the Whites coming back from 2-0 down to draw at Chelsea last time out.

• There have been just seven goals scored in Aston Villa’s last six Premier League games (4 for, 3 against), an average of just 1.2 per game. In their previous six matches, the number of goals scored by Villa has more than tripled (23 – 3.8 per game).

• Since December, Leeds United ranks first in long shots into the box (62), shots after long throws into the box (20) and xG of shots after long throws into the box (3.03). Captain Ethan Ampadu also made the most long throws into the box during this period (55).

• Aston Villa have 50 points from 26 Premier League matches this season (15 wins, 5 draws, 6 losses) – the third time they have reached 50 points in so few matches, after 2008-09 (51 from 25 matches) and 2023-24 (52 from 26 matches).

• Lukas Nmecha has been involved in three goals in his last two Premier League appearances (2 goals, 1 assist) and is averaging a goal every 115 minutes this season – the most of any Leeds United player in Premier League history to play over 500 minutes for the club.

• Morgan Rogers scored both goals in Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Leeds in November – he leads all Villa players in the Premier League this season in chances created (33), big chances created (10), assists (5), takes on (101), touches in the opponent’s box (131) and has the most goals (8).