'That was the knockout blow' - Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard on win at Leeds United and crowd

Despite a sluggish start in both halves, Villa took control of the game and killed Leeds off with two second half goals to add to Philippe Coutinho's opener.

Gerrard felt his team played the occasion well, given the potential 'new manager bounce' with Jesse Marsch in the Leeds dugout and the home crowd creating a din and getting on Tyrone Mings' back from the outset.

"Very satisfying, we can't ask for any more from the players," he said.

"Extremely proud of how they went about their work. We thoroughly deserved our win. We've dominated the majority of the game. The crowd, the atmosphere, we had to control a lot of things. I look around my team and everyone delivered tonight.

"I loved it. Before a ball's kicked, you know coming into Elland Road, with a new manager there might be a bounce, the noise they were generating was very impressive. The only way to answer it when it's coming from the stands is make sure your team wins and have the last laugh, and keep a clean sheet. It's about banter from the terraces, we welcome all that, that's why it's the best league in the world."

Shutting Leeds out completely was another huge positive for the Villa boss.

"We didn't start either half as well as I'd liked to, that's the only negative," he said.

"Once we settled, how we played out of possession was a real plus. Three clean sheets on the bounce, we must be doing something right. Our goalkeeper was extremely quiet tonight, I can look back and really enjoy it."

Leeds' best spell came after the interval as they pressed Villa deep into their own half, but once the visitors broke out and scored a second through Matty Cash, the game appeared over.

Centre-half Calum Chambers' fine finish was the icing on the cake for Gerrard.

"I think that was the knockout blow, from that moment it was just about us respecting our goalkeeper and defensive players, they wanted a clean sheet," he said.

"It took a lot of air out of Leeds. You know with Bamford on the pitch if they score it could be a sticky end."