Leeds United went head-to-head with Aston Villa earlier this week.
Leeds United will be disappointed not to have come away from Villa Park with all three points on Thursday, yet there were still plenty of reasons to be positive.
One of those was the performance of Swiss full-back Gaetano Berardi, who again featured in place of the injured Charlie Taylor and set about making up for lost time.
The 28-year-old has been blighted by an injury of his own this season. However he has now fully recovered, featuring in Leeds’ last three Championship matches and helping them to seven points in the process.
| Passing Accuracy | Effective Clearances | Interceptions Won | Duels Won | Aerials Won | Effective Headed Clearance | Dispossessed | Ball Recoveries | Appearances | Mins Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaetano Berardi | 88% | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 90 |
Against Aston Villa, Berardi did everything asked of him in a defensive capacity, having the joint-best passing accuracy of any Leeds player on the day (along with Pontus Jansson) while he also won the most duels (six) and recovered the ball on five occasions.
The Leeds player was not dispossessed all game and he made four effective clearances, won two interceptions and two aerial battles.
Berardi’s attacking play has to improve somewhat to match that of Taylor, but that will come as he builds up his fitness and momentum after a long time out of the side.
Leeds have real strength in depth under Garry Monk and the manager will know this is their best chance in years to finally return to the top flight.
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