Morgan Rogers pointed to Unai Emery’s management after scoring a brilliant brace to help Aston Villa come from behind to defeat Leeds United 2-1 on Sunday.

Lukas Nmecha opened the scoring at Elland Road before Rogers neatly flicked on Donyell Malen’s cross to level the scores early in the second half.

The England international then planted a sensational free-kick into the top corner in the 75th minute to complete Villa’s turnaround and lift them to fourth in the Premier League.

With his brace, Rogers became just the second Villa player to score twice at Elland Road in the Premier League after Gareth Southgate in January 2000.

He also ended the contest with team-high totals for shots (two), chances created (two), successful dribbles (four) and total duels (18).

Reflecting on the match, Rogers said Emery often encourages him to take up more advanced spaces on the pitch.

“I’m really happy. There’s been a few goals I haven’t quite got in other games, so it was nice to get on the score sheet,” the 23-year-old told BBC Match of the Day.

“But if I don’t score, it’s OK as long as we get the win. The manager’s always banging on at me to get into the box. That’s where the goals are scored.

“Sometimes I’m hesitant to go in. I went in and just kind of reacted to the ball. I’m lucky I could get a toe on it. I was really happy with that one.

“Straight out of half-time, we had the energy. The crowd was up, everything was going well. It was a good time to score.”

Sealed with a selfie pic.twitter.com/aS8AdsCV7y

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) November 23, 2025

Since his Premier League debut, only Cole Palmer (44) and Bukayo Saka (28) have been involved in more goals among players aged 23 or younger than Rogers (27 – 14 goals, 13 assists).

Speaking on his stunning free-kick, Rogers added: “I call it the Emi Buendia. He did it the in the last game before the break. It’s something I’ve been practising, probably not as hard as him or as much as I should.

“Once he was off the pitch, I looked around and there was nobody else that really practised them, so I thought ‘why not?’ I know I’ve got them in the locker. From so close, it’s just about getting it up and down as quickly as possible.”

Villa boss Emery was also full of praise for Rogers, adding: “He was playing fantastic. Today scoring his goal was brilliant.

“I try to get of him his qualities and make him feel comfortable in our structures. On the left, in the middle and as a striker. He is so, so competitive player. Always he accepts everything we are trying to do with him.”

For Leeds, however, Sunday marked a third straight defeat. Daniel Farke’s side have now dropped eight points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, with only Newcastle United (nine) and Brentford (11) losing more.

It was also just the fourth time Leeds have lost a home Premier League match after leading at half-time – the previous occasions coming in August 1994 (vs Chelsea), December 2002 (vs Charlton Athletic) and September 2021 (vs West Ham United).

“Performance-wise, we’ve turned back to what we want to be,” Farke conceded.

“We dominated many periods against a very good side. We should’ve taken some points from this game.

“We are not back to our best, we can still improve, but at the end we are just disappointed we did not get any points.”