Aston Villa FC
Manchester United FC
Manchester United FC
Europa League finalists Man United take on struggling Aston Villa
Manchester United to win 2-1
Manchester United will be full of confidence right now having reached their first final under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, after four failed attempts, and have a chance to earn their first trophy at the end of the month.
Until then, their main aim is to officially secure 2nd position in the table, staying ahead of chasing clubs such as Leicester and Chelsea.
It won’t be easy however, due to their postponed fixture with Liverpool last weekend. It has been rearranged for next week, meaning that United face four games within the space of eight days, with Leicester and Liverpool to follow this one. Squad management will be key for Solskjaer.
Aston Villa won their most recent game against Everton, but remain outside of the top half of the table due to Leeds’ strong form.
They will still be without captain and key player Jack Grealish here, and have a poor record at home against United.
Form Guide (all comps): WLLDW
Reasons to be cheerful:
Aiming to win back-to-back games for the first time since December
Only Man City & Chelsea have kept more clean sheets this season
Reasons to be fearful:
Dreadful record with no home win over United since 1995-96
Haven’t beaten a top two side since 2014
Aston Villa’s confidence will have improved after winning against Everton last weekend, only their second victory in eight games, but facing Manchester United is likely to prove a more difficult test.
Villa’s home record against United is famously bad – United fans often call it their second home – and haven’t won at Villa Park against the Red Devils in 26 years.
Their record in the Premier League so far in 2021 has matched that awful statistic, with only three sides losing more than Villa since the start of January. Still without Jack Grealish, they will need to find other ways of testing a United team which hasn’t lost away from home in the league for over a year.
Star Man – Ollie Watkins
No player has scored more than Watkin’s seven goals against Big Six teams this season.
Form Guide (all comps): WWDWL
Reasons to be cheerful:
Confidence will be sky-high after reaching Europa League final
Fantastic record against Aston Villa
Reasons to be fearful:
In the middle of four games in eight days
Will have to rotate players to combat fatigue
Manchester United look a formidable side right now, with the machine that is their away record powering forward with each game.
They lost the game away to Roma a few days ago, but reached the Europa League final for the second time in their history.
In the Premier League, they are unbeaten in 24 games stretching back in excess of a year. Combine that with their fantastic record at Villa Park, and you can see why United are heavy favourites here.
The worry for United will be their awful run of fixtures over the next week or so. With Solskjaer playing virtually his strongest side a few days ago, he will likely make changes here which could decrease their quality.
Star Man – Bruno Fernandes
Has scored in both games he’s played against Villa, both of which turned out to be the winning goal.
United are favourites despite fixture congestion
Villa are in better form following their win last weekend
Chances at both ends
With Villa’s recent defensive record not quite as good as earlier in the season, and with United potentially rotating a few players, this could well be an open game of football.
Both sides prefer to play on the counterattack and as we saw in their game against Roma, United’s defence is a little shaky too.
The Reds remain favourites, but it could be a close game.
Manchester United to win 2-1
