Aston Villa defender Axel Tuanzebe made his long awaited return to football during Wednesday night's 2-1 win against Rotherham United.

He put in a very decent display as well, holding the back line together after Tyrone Mings was sent off in the first half.

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It was clearly a performance appreciated by his teammates too, as Gregg Evans reported after the game during Dean Smith's press conference:

After picking up two yellow cards inside a 15 minute spell, Mings was given his marching orders just half-an-hour into the clash.

And they fell behind just two minutes later as well when the Millers' star man Will Vaulks tucked away a penalty, but Villa roared back in the second half.

In a frantic six minute spell after the restart, Jonathan Kodjia levelled things with a spot-kick of his own before a wonderfully worked goal was started and finished by Jack Grealish to ensure Dean Smith's side extended their run to seven wins on the bounce.

The verdict

The contrast in team spirit at the club between now and the start of the season is truly remarkable.

With calls for Bruce to go it looked like an unfixable issue, but Smith, and the returning Jack Grealish, seem to have worked absolute wonders.