Match Report: Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester United
Manchester United leave Villa park with all three points after Scott Mctominay’s late bullet header restored United’s lead. With the walls of their fortress falling down, Villa park has been infiltrated for the third consecutive time. In what was described as a “six point game” by Unai Emery, United managed to leave Birmingham with all three points, to move to within five points of the Villans.
The win extends United’s unbeaten streak in 2024, and Ramus Hojlund carries on his considerable form in front of goal, netting home for the fifth game in a row.
The Holte end received their players well at the start of the match with deafening support, resulting in a fast start to the match. United manged through this well, which saw an evenly contested opening 15 minutes.
It was 2 minutes after this, that the deadlock was broken, and United’s number 11 tapped the ball in from four yards out. Harry Maguire was the unlikely assister, grabbing his third assist of the season, as he towered over Boubacar Kamara to win the initial header from a corner from Bruno Fernandes.
Embed from Getty ImagesVilla monopolised possession for the rest of the half, as United took defensive precautions to contain their one goal advantage ahead of the break. Despite their possession, Villa failed to muster a clear-cut opportunity to level the score. John McGinn stung Andre Onana’s palms with a rasping left foot drive, whilst Ollie Watkins and Jacob Ramsey took aim too, but Onana was equal to them each time, pulling off some smart saves. United followed their trend of drawing first blood and leading in the first half in their last five games.
United were forced into a half time substitution that saw Victor Lindelof replace Luke Shaw. The change would have come much to the delight of Leon Bailey who had 45 minutes to test his wits against a centre-back playing at left-back.
Getting back into the game would have been the main talking point in the Villa camp at half time, and that was evident in the way they came out of the traps. The home side cleverly put together some dangerous oppurtunities, particularly through the midfield, Villa came close with a couple of efforts, but still could not convert.
Embed from Getty ImagesUnited rode their luck but eventually the seemingly inevitable happened, as Douglas Luiz levelled the score from point blank range in the 67th minute. The visitors scrambled a clearance out to Diaby, who crashed a second volleyed delivery back into the six-yard box. Luiz was there, readying and waiting to tap into the roof of the net with a right-footed reactionary finish!
A 1-1 scoreline forced United back into more of an offensive approach, knowing that a draw was not enough in their fight for a spot amongst Europe’s elite next season. Through this shift in their approach, United began making life difficult for the backline of Villa once again, as Marcus Rashford and co were reintroduced to the game. This led to a counterattack led by an in form Garnacho, who ignored his options and went alone, but narrowly missed the bottom right corner of Emiliano Martinez’s goal.
Embed from Getty ImagesJust as the points looked as though they were going to be shared, McTominay assumed the role he’s played a number of times for United this season – the hero. With four minutes remaining on the clock United showed their ‘Never say die’ attitude as they launched a counterattack down their right hand side, closest to the travelling away fans. Diogo Dalot played a fantastic cross where he found the powerful run of McTominay, who shrugged off Matty Cash to meet the ball first and head home to send the United fans all over the world into chaotic celebration.
After the five minutes stoppage time was played, the referee blew his whistle for the final time, and the united heroes went over to celebrate with the travelling fans. The champions league dream is back alive.
Man of the match
In a game where it lacked an absolute standout performer, the most consistent performer was Manchester United’s number five Harry Maguire. He hardly put a foot wrong and was monstrous as ever in the air. The Englishman won the most duels, aerial duels, had the most final third entries, whilst making most passes and the most successful tackles. Oh, and not to mention his assist for the opener. A very solid performance and stepped up in Martinez’s absence.
What’s next?
Embed from Getty ImagesUnited look to keep up their form going into their next match, which is a trip away to newly promoted side, Luton. They enjoyed a great January, where they remained undefeated for the whole month. Everyone will see United as overwhelming favourites, but it’s never that simple. Luton proved this in the reverse fixture, where they proved tough to break down, until Lindelof eventually grabbed the winner in the second half in a scrappy goal to give us the 1-0 victory. Luton recently pulled themselves out of the relegation zone, so there’s added motivation for them to pick up valuable points.
This fixture takes place on Sunday 18th February 2024. Kick off time:16:30.
