Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Ayling reacts to facing Coutinho in Leeds draw with Aston Villa
Luke Ayling that it was not particularly fun coming up against Philippe Coutinho in Leeds United’s draw with Aston Villa, but suggested that he felt he grew into the game.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side produced a superb comeback to earn a point against the Villans. Daniel James scored twice, while Diego Llorente bagged the equaliser during the second-half.
The comeback was required after a stunning 14 minute spell from the Villans. And it was Coutinho who was at the heart of everything for Steven Gerrard’s side.
The Barcelona loanee scored their first goal. And he went on to set up the other two for Jacob Ramsey. Some of his passing was outrageous. And there was a series of audacious nutmegs – including one on Ayling.
Leeds managed to nullify Coutinho a little more as the contest went on. But they would have been relieved when he was taken off for Ashley Young with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Ayling suggested that he is somewhat conflicted following his battle with the Brazilian. He joked about how tough it was, but insisted that that is the challenge that he relishes now he is in the Premier League.
“No, it wasn’t fun! I worked hard to get here so it’s always good when you come up against players like that, it’s a great learning curve but it’s tough when you play like we play,” .
“It’s man to man and it’s tough in there in terms. I stuck to my task and thought I did alright as the game went on.”
Coutinho likely to hurt plenty of teams as Ayling comments in battle in Leeds draw
Leeds really seemed to struggle in transition against Villa. Villa’s attacking players made several clever runs and exploited the gaps left by the defence extremely well in that first-half.
It says a lot that the visitors had more than 60 percent of the ball ().
Having said that, Leeds may feel that they could have done little more to stop Coutinho given the mood he was in. He was absolutely brilliant, particularly in the first-half.
Those flashes of brilliance show that the 29-year-old is going to hurt a lot of teams while he is on loan.
Leeds perhaps did not make their task any easier with some of their defending. But that is just part of what makes Bielsa’s men arguably the most entertaining team in the division.