Steven Gerrard reveals Aston Villa’s sleepless nights after cryptic Leeds United prediction

Both Leeds United and Aston Villa left Elland Road on Sunday dissatisfied with a point, for different reasons.

The Whites were aggrieved by referee Stuart Attwell’s officiating while Villans head coach Steven Gerrard felt his side did enough to claim all three points, especially after the hosts went a man down during the second half.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Gerrard praised Leeds’ defensive capabilities whilst suggesting ‘one or two’ of his players would be having sleepless nights recounting the missed opportunity to put Leeds to the sword at Elland Road.

“We played well tonight,” Gerrard said. “We knew it was going to be tough. A point before the game here wouldn't have been so bad because it's a tough game, Leeds are a good team, they’re improving, we get that but how the game pans out, a point’s not enough because we created more than enough to take the three points and I think it was there for us.

"One or two of our players mightn’t sleep as well as they should’ve done tonight, that’s for sure,” Gerrard added, but chose not to disclose which players he was referencing.

Villa had 19 shots on the day, seven of which were on target, but could not find the back of the net.

Shortly after Luis Sinisterra’s red card, Philippe Coutinho hit the woodwork with an acrobatic effort, before Ollie Watkins turned the rebound behind with the goal gaping.

Watkins was denied four times by Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier and took six shots in total as his wait for a goal stretched to six games.

During his post-match media briefing, Gerrard also confirmed the Midlands club’s game-plan, which Jesse Marsch had taken issue with: “We knew it was going to be competitive. We wanted to frustrate Leeds, Leeds are a team that want to get in rhythm, they want to counter-press, they want to be aggressive and play vertical, they want to run all over you” Gerrard said.

"We slowed the game to our tempo, we went to war when we needed to go to war. We were physically competitive.”