Aston Villa's rise under Unai Emery continued with a 2-1 win over Leeds United at Villa Park on Friday.
Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia struck early in either half as Villa bounced back from a shock FA Cup exit to League Two Stevenage last weekend.
Patrick Bamford pulled a goal back for Leeds seven minutes from time, but defeat leaves Jesse Marsch's men just above the relegation zone.
Villa stay in 11th position on the table, but are now level on points with Chelsea after a run of just one defeat in six league games since Emery took charge in October.
Leeds are 14th in the standings, just two points above the relegation zone. Given the chances they had in the match, Leeds will feel like their trip to the Midlands was an opportunity missed. They have now won just two of their last 15 league games.
Rodrigo had a goal disallowed and shot cleared off the line while Jack Harrison and Wilfried Gnonto were expertly denied by Emi Martinez before Bamford's consolation.
It extended Leeds' winless run to seven games in all competitions.
"When you are in the season and looking at the table and want to get points and win matches and you lose it hurts, but for me this was our best performance," Marsch told the BBC.
"It was the most complete performance we have had since I've been here. It is a really positive sign for me. It hurts to lose but a really positive performance."
Marsch dismissed any growing pressure amid calls for his sacking.
He added: "I'm focused entirely on our team. I understand the pressures which come with the expectation at a club like Leeds. I'm more positive than I've ever been since I've been here.
"When the team doesn't win the coach is always going to take the heat but I can handle that.
"There's no panic, it's really trying to kick start the way we want to play. If we do that we have enough quality and intelligence to achieve our goals."
Villa have registered four wins in their first six Premier League games under Unai Emery, one victory more than they managed in their previous 17 in the competition before.
"It was important to score the second goal because they were playing well to try and score and they did," Emery said.
"It was important to have the advantage of the two goals to close the match and get the three points."
THE%20HOLDOVERS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Places to go for free coffee
- Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day.
- La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
- Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
- Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)
Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14
Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)
Perera 47; Sohail 2-18
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
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BRIEF SCORES:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
