Sheffield Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal has claimed that his side deserved their 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on the opening weekend of the Championship season.
The Owls kicked off their campaign with a late triumph over their recently-relegated opponents courtesy of Fernando Forestieri's 85th-minute winner at Hillsborough.
Wednesday had to wait seven games for their first win of last season, and Carvalhal believes that the beaten playoff finalists are now on "another level".
"I thought we deserved to win the game. All the players deserved to win this game. I think we are more compact than last season and we are moving the ball again very well," he told reporters.
"We are improving the team and I think they are playing at another level now compared to the start of last season. We had a fantastic first half and never lost control of the game against very tough opponents who tried to close the spaces.
"In the second half we started well but, because we didn't score, Aston Villa started to create some problems. We put [Atdhe] Nuhiu on and we were more dangerous again. We scored a goal because the goalkeeper did a mistake, but he did that because Gary Hooper put him under pressure. The ball came to our special player and Fernando scored a goal."
Wednesday will take on Cambridge United in the League Cup on Tuesday before continuing their Championship campaign away to Norwich City.
