Aston Villa scraped past Queens Park Rangers in a close encounter at Loftus Road on Sunday.

Jonathan Kodjia's second half strike was enough to take all three points back up the M1 to the Midlands.

But it wasn't all plain sailing for Aston Villa as Ian Holloway's QPR side put up a good fight and pushed for the win.

They had chances but were ultimately toothless in front of goal, which was indicative of how they've been all season.

Aston Villa managed a smash and grab as Kodjia fired a powerful attempt into the net from inside the box to atone for his earlier penalty miss.

This was the mark of a good team though and seemed to be the pattern of the weekend for promotion chasers.

Newcastle scraped past Burton whilst Brighton, Leeds, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday all struck late winners to ensure their play-off hopes are still alive.

Aston Villa managed to follow suit and get a tight victory and these were the 3 key players for them in that encounter.

Nathan Baker

Nathan Baker has swiftly become a key player for Aston Villa and formed a formidable centre back partnership with James Chester.

The dominant defender was a leader at the back yet again and put his body on the line to see out a clean sheet and a win.

Mark Bunn

Steve Bruce made the bold call of dropping Pierluigi Gollini to the bench and handing Mark Bunn a start but it paid dividends.

Bunn looked assured between the sticks and kept a much-needed clean sheet to help Villa to victory.

Jonathan Kodjia

Jonathan Kodjia was ultimately the difference in this match.

The Ivory Coast international missed a penalty but made up for it with a superbly taken goal in the second half to ensure Villa took all the points.

Aston Villa really are seeing the best of the former Bristol City man now.

 

Aston Villa fans - do you agree with these key players? Who did you think was good? Let us know in the comments below...