Villa player ratings: Derby (H)

Aston Villa finally picked up their first win of 2017 thanks to a hard fought 1-0 victory against Derby at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon.

The much needed 3 points, not only releases some of the pressure that was building up over Bruce and the players, but it also means that Villa now find themselves 8 points above the dreaded Relegation Zone.

No one thought that Villa would be in a relegation battle this season, but 8 losses from 9 games so far this year meant that before today’s game they were only 6 points clear of relegation. Had they lost today, and other results had also gone against them, they could have found themselves just 4 points clear.

The game wasn’t a spectacular one and it will not last long in the memory of either set of supporters, but the Villa fans won’t care one jot as they will be hoping that this is a win that will finally get their campaign back on track.

Here are our Villa player ratings for today’s game: