Ezri Konsa said Aston Villa showed their quality to overcome Leeds United in the Premier League on Friday night.
An early strike from Leon Bailey gave the hosts the perfect start but they didn’t have it all their own way at Villa Park.
After Emi Buendia had made it 2-0, Patrick Bamford set up a nervy finish, and Konsa was pleased with how Villa saw the game out.
He said: “There will be times when the opposition has their moments, and we had to fight today. We did that really well.
“We showed our quality in certain spells and came away with the three points. That was the main thing for us.”
Villa also had to overcome injuries to Lucas Digne and Ollie Watkins in the first half, with debutant Álex Moreno and Danny Ings called upon from the bench.
“The squad that we have is really good. Everyone knows about Danny Ings in the Premier League, so we were really confident,” reflected Konsa.
“We stuck to the game plan, even though we had to make two changes early in the first half. We’ll focus on the next game now.”
The result and performance was the perfect response to last weekend’s FA Cup exit, making it four wins from six Premier League games under Unai Emery.
Konsa says the players owed the fans after defeat against Stevenage and he was pleased that they managed to deliver on home turf.
He said: “It was important to bounce back, especially after the result on the weekend.
“We wanted to give the fans something to cheer for and we did that tonight.”
