Manchester United had Aston Villa at Old Trafford on new year’s day fixture. Manchester United beat Aston Villa by 2-1 and move up to the joint top with Liverpool but second in goal difference.
Anthony Martial gave Red Devils the lead in the first half but Aston Villa equalised in the second half. Bruno Fernandes’ goal gave United the crucial three points.
Fernandes now involved in more goals in his first 30 Premier League matches than Eric Cantona. Bruno has 33 involvement and Cantona had 27.
With this win, Manchester United now got 33 points in 16 games and Aston Villa has 26 in 15 matches.
Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa Team News:
Manchester United manager Ole Gunner Solskjær made four changes from their win over Wolverhampton. He chose 4-3-1-2 diamond formation for this encounter.
Fred and Scott McTominey started in the midfield, Paul Pogba kept himself in the starting Xl and started on the left side of midfield. Luke Shaw started ahead of Alex Telles and Anthony Martial retained his starting spot.
Aston Villa made only one change Tyrone Mings returned from suspension and Kortney Hause made way for him. Apart from that Dean Smith kept the same Xl from their last match against Chelsea.
Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa Match Analysis:
The game started at a very high tempo, both teams wanted to hurt their opponents. but neither goalkeeper had to put a huge effort in the first half. Both team’s defence played very well.
Martial had a shot but brilliantly saved by Villa shot-stopper Emiliano Martinez and Bruno Fernandes’ attempt went just narrowly wide.
Aston Villa tried to show their quality and John McGinn’s very good technical volley saved by David De Gea.
On the 40th minute mark, Manchester United broke the deadlock. After a great play in midfield, Aaron Wan-Bissaka provided a delicious delivery for Martial and he scored from a guided header between two Villa centre- backs. Tyrone Mings completely misjudged the cross.
Aston Villa started the second half in the front foot and they got their reward. Cross from Jack Grealish guided home by Bertrand Traore on the back post.
But Villa’s joy didn’t last long, Manchester United retained their lead straight away. Douglas Luiz tripped Paul Pogba in the box and Bruno Fernandes made no mistake with the penalty.
United created more chances but they couldn’t add their lead thanks to brilliant keeping from Martinez.
Aston Villa pressured Man United in the back end of the game but great goalkeeping from David De Gea saved the day for United.
At the last minute, Villa had a great chance but a super block from Eric Bailly denied Villa from getting anything at Old Trafford.
Notable Performances:
Eric Bailly(CB) – (8/10)(Manchester United): Played excellent and kept quiet Ollie Watkins. The minute block was unbelievable.
Jack Grealish(CAM) – (7/10)(Aston Villa): Played excellent and gave the crucial assist for the goal.
Scott McTominey(CM) – (5/10)(Manchester United): Very bad game, miss placed passes in midfield and didn’t look good and substituted in the second half.
Manchester United will play against Manchester City at Old Trafford in the League Cup semi-final on 6th January and their next Premier League match is against away to Burnley on 12th January.
Aston Villa will play their next game at home to Liverpool in FA Cup on 8th January and the next league match will be against Tottenham Hotspur on 13th January at Villa Park.
A trusted source on ManUNews.comFor more football updates, make sure to follow us on:
