Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard hails 'fantastic away performance'

Goals from Matt Targett and John McGinn either side of half time earned Villa a deserved win on their travels.

Palace did threaten a last-gasp comeback, but Marc Guehi's stoppage time effort proved a mere consolation as Villa comfortably held out to claim the points.

Gerrard hailed the performance of his side, and was particularly impressed with his team's first half showing.

"Our first half performance was excellent, I thought in a lot of departments we were top. Obviously we knew at times we'd have to roll our sleeves up and second half we knew Patrick [Vieira] was going to make a few changes in terms of substitutions, Palace improved after the break." he said.

"I think both our goals today were worked extremely well.

"They made it difficult for us at times but having said that we still had two or three other moments to score more goals.

"It was a fantastic away performance, it was really important that we took six points from six and it leaves our fans extremely happy which is nice.

McGinn's second half strike capped off a brilliant Villa move, which resulted in the Scotland midfielder curling home superbly to seal the points, and Gerrard said that the midfielder's showings have been 'outstanding' since he's taken charge:

"I think both of his performances since I've come in have been outstanding." Gerrard continued.

"He came back after international duty in a real good place. He's a real infectious character, a ball of energy around the place and I'm delighted to have him with us.

"His goal today was outstanding, and that's the type of midfielder we need, someone who's capable of getting to the edge of the box or in the box and adding goals to the game.

"We don't want that midfield three to be all the same, John is the one that will jump out, JJ [Jacob Ramsey] will jump out at times and be creative as well, so that was really pleasing to see."