Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard hailed the performance of Ashley Young after victory over Brighton.

Young, 36, was introduced for Emi Buendia with a little over 15 minutes remaining and, just 10 minutes after coming on, drove forwards before teeing up Ollie Watkins to score.

Tyrone Mings added another late on to wrap up the perfect start to Gerrard's tenure here at Villa, with the boss quick to pick out Young's involvement both before and during the 2-0 win over Brighton.

"I know Ashley extremely well and he's been absolutely outstanding since we walked through the door," he said. "Not just on the training pitch but his leadership and standard-setting.

"We see players like him as an outer-layer of the staff, if you like, who really help us when we need to lean on him.

"He was ready today and the big thing about Ash is he can play right-back, left-back, he can play as an eight, a 10 or wide. That's what good players allow you to do as a manager, allow you to play in different ways."