Mings hailed by Gerrard upon his Villa return
Steven Gerrard praised the returning Tyrone Mings as Aston Villa claimed their first Premier League victory of the season with a 2-1 success against Everton.
Mings was stripped of the captaincy over the summer in favour of John McGinn and then eyebrows were raised when he was left on the bench during last weekend’s loss to Bournemouth.
Gerrard insisted that was primarily due to a minor injury and Mings returned to the starting line-up at Villa Park.
“I certainly understand when you make a decision like that externally there’ll be a lot of noise,” said Gerrard.
“I thought he was really dominant and he played his part in a really important win for us.”
Villa started took the lead through Danny Ings in the 31st minute.
They looked to have wrapped up the points when sub Emiliano Buendia tapped in five minutes from time, but Lucas Digne scored an own goal moments later.
Everton are yet to pick up a point and boss Frank Lampard said: “I thought there was some good and bad in the performance.”
Wolves boss Bruno Lage feels goalkeeper Jose Sa can become one of the Premier League’s “good names” after earning his side a point in a 0-0 draw against Fulham.
Portuguese keeper Sa saved Aleksandar
Mitrovic’s 81st-minute penalty after Rayan Ait Nouri’s challenge on Bobby Cordova-Reid.
Lage said: “I’m happy for him. He needs to continue to work because he can be one of the good names in the Premier League.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva placed no blame on Mitrovic for failing to convert his late penalty.
“Mitro knows that the next penalty he’ll be there, he will take it and he will score,” Silva said.
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl was pleased with his side’s response as they battled back from two down to earn a 2-2 draw with Leeds.
Rodrigo had struck twice at the start of the second half, but the Saints hit back late on through Joe Aribo and Kyle Walker-Peters.
“Sorry that we destroyed a few headline,” said the Austrian manager.
“We showed a good reaction and nothing less than I expected from this fantastic group.”
Leeds boss Jesse Marsch added:“It’s a terrible feeling to play so well and have the game switch and walk away with what feels like less than one point.”
In the day’s late game, Brentford smashed Manchester United 4-0, with all four goals arriving before 35 minutes, from Josh Dasilva, Mathias Jensen, Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo.