Kemar Roofe and Chris Wood ignited dramatic new Leeds United series against Aston Villa

Marcelo Bielsa's Whites lit up October's clash at Villa Park all by themselves with some stunning football in a 3-0 victory.

Before that, last April's 1-1 draw at Elland Road featured a Mateusz Klich equaliser that sparked fury whilst Jonathan Kodjia was down injured.

Bielsa allowed a walked in equaliser to follow and all this on the back of a quite remarkable 3-2 success at Villa Park in December 2016 in which Kemar Roofe bagged a 95th-minute winner to complete a Christmas miracle comeback from 2-0 down.

Quite what will ensue when the two sides lock horns at Elland Road this evening remains to be seen in what will be an eighth fixture between the two in the last five and a half years.

Prior to meeting in the Championship at Elland Road in the 2015-16 campaign, the two teams had not met since February 2004 as part of the season when the Whites went down.

But Villa were to join the Whites in losing their top flight status in May 2015 and the recent Villa-Leeds series all began with yet another dramatic encounter at Elland Road in December 2016 in which Chris Wood left it very late to make sure of a 2-0 victory at Elland Road.

Leeds were already in their 13th season outside of the top flight and having their seventh consecutive crack at getting out of English football's second tear having escaped three years in the League One doldrums by going up as runners up in 2010.

But Villa were facing up to anything other than top flight football for the first time in 28 years having finished bottom of the Premier League in the previous campaign.

Steve Bruce had then been appointed as successor to the sacked Roberto Di Matteo in October and took over a Villa side languishing in 19th place.

Bruce's tenure began with a 1-1 draw at home to Wolves and formed the start of a seven game unbeaten run that featured four victories.

But that all came to a crashing late end at Elland Road against Garry Monk's Whites who made it five wins out of their last six league games.

The only exception was a 2-0 defeat at home to eventual champions Newcastle United and Leeds lined up against Villa having impressed in a 2-0 defeat at EFL Cup hosts Liverpool in their previous game.

Leeds sat fifth in the table whereas Villa were 11th and hopes were high that Monk could be the man to take end United's long Premier League exile.

United's matchday squad against Villa actually featured three present day players now Leeds are in the Premier League in Luke Ayling and Kalvin Phillips who both started plus Stuart Dallas and Gaetano Berardi who were on the bench.

A 21-year-old Jack Grealish also started on the Villa bench alongside Gabby Agbonlahor and Jordan Ayew as Kodjia and Rudy Gestede started upfront.

The game looked to be heading to a goalless draw after Leeds had squandered headed chances for first Pontus Jansson and Kyle Bartley in the first half.

Villa had then threatened in a major way after the break when the pacy Albert Adomah stormed through on goal but saw his shot diverted wide by Rob Green.

Green also proved equal to a firm Ashley Westwood volley.

Yet Leeds went in front eight minutes after the hour when summer signings Kemar Roofe raced on to a ranking Souleymane Doukara cross and beat Villa keeper Pierluigi Gollini to the ball which was headed into the far left corner of the net for his first goal at Elland Road.

Gollini then made some sort of amends when keeping out Wood's volley from a tight angle.

But Wood made absolutely sure of victory with probably the easiest finish of his career in the 94th minute after Hadi Sacko raced clear and produced a firm low shot that Gollini could only palm into the path of Wood who had the simple task of sliding the ball home from one yard out.

The victory sent United fourth and Leeds looked certain to finish in the play-offs until a gut wrenching late collapse saw Monk's men finish seventh.

Villa could end up in 13th but both sides would end up getting it right in the years that followed bringing us to a first top flight league fixture at Elland Road between the two for over 17 years tonight.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/marcelo-bielsa-and-dean-smith-await-fifth-meeting-of-eventful-series-as-leeds-united-host-aston-villa-3147404

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/yorkshire-evening-post-launch-leeds-united-only-digital-subscription-ahead-premier-league-campaign-2967964

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Thank you Laura Collins