The Villa boss said: "It was a tough three points against a side who I cannot believe are where they are in the table.
"You look at the players on view, and if they continue to play with the same attitude, they have got to win games which will take them away from the relegation zone.
"I hope they do not go down as they are a big club and have enough players to get out of trouble. Let's hope they start winning games.
"I was pleased with the way we built on last week's win at Leicester.
"We got the goals at the right time although I thought from where I was standing the penalty was dubious to say the least.
"But I thought we should have had a penalty earlier in the game. We won the penalty, took it and we went in one goal up at half time.
"I was pleased that Angel wanted to get back into the action as quickly as possible. I cannot wait to get the link-up between him and Solano. They will prove invaluable for us.
"Angel's pre-match comments before the game were fair. I don't think that I will have to persuade him about anything.
"He knows how I think about him. He responds to me and like any good player he wants to be going places.
"Angel wants to be successful and I do as well."
Leeds manager, Eddie Gray, said: "I thought the boys worked extremely hard but it was a bad time just behalf half time to concede the penalty which I thought was harsh.
"But I still have a belief that we can scrape out of trouble. The lads were down at half time following the penalty because they had worked reasonably hard.
"I don't like looking at other results but other teams at the bottom of the table have also lost so Tuesday's game at Elland Road against Wolves is a big, big game for us.
"I just want us to win a game to give the lads a bit more confidence."