Aston Villa 3-0 Middlesbrough: Player Ratings at Riverside Stadium

Nyland kept the clean sheet, but he dropped two crosses that resulted in panic moments. He was confident in his kicking, but rarely accurate. The incredible finger-tip save on Jordan Hugill earns him a point.. GK. Aston Villa. ORJAN NYLAND. 6.0

Elmohamady was Villa’s poorest outfield player. Before Tony Pulis took off Marcus Tavernier, he was dribbling circles around the Villa right-back. To his credit, Elmo defended in the air very well, especially in the second-half.. RB. Aston Villa. AHMED ELMOHAMADY. 5.5

7.0. The Manchester United loanee is elegant at dribbling the ball forward out of pressure.. CB. Aston Villa. AXEL TUANZEBE

7.5. Dominant. The Aston Villa captain <strong>scored </strong>the opener from a backheel set piece.. CB. Aston Villa. JAMES CHESTER

6.5. Not very incisive going forward, but not much else to gripe about. Neil Taylor had a good outing.. LB. Aston Villa. NEIL TAYLOR

Still trying to find that balance in a defensive midfield role, but Hourihane is so good at cycling the ball. Over 90% passing accuracy again.. CDM. Aston Villa. CONOR HOURIHANE. 6.5

6.5. Never. Stops. Working. McGinn played well. Taken off for goalscorer Glenn Whelan on the 81st-minute.. CM. Aston Villa. JOHN MCGINN

CM. Aston Villa. JACK GREALISH. 7.0. Grealish recorded three key passes, per WhoScored. He had another great outing in helping set-up Villa’s second.

ANWAR EL GHAZI. 8.0. Man-of-the-Match, in my opinion. A tremendous two-way display in his return to the starting XI.. RW/LW. Aston Villa

CF. Aston Villa. TAMMY ABRAHAM. 7.5. 5 shots, 3 on-target. Tammy Abraham won’t stop scoring as he<strong> recorded</strong> his 6th in 3 matches. He came off injured; hopefully it was just precautionary.

7.0. Yannick Bolasie was a threat all evening long. Picked-up an <strong>assist </strong>and taken off for Jonathan Kodjia on the 72nd-minute.. LW/RW. Aston Villa. YANNICK BOLASIE