Aston Villa cruised to a deserving 3-1 win over Manchester United in Unai Emery’s first game in the charge of the Villans.
Aston Villa hosted Manchester United in a Premier League fixture on Sunday and got off to a quick start against the in-form Red Devils. It took the home side just seven minutes to break the deadlock, with Leon Bailey finding the target.
Jacob Ramsey slipped Bailey in, and the latter drilled the ball into the far corner to give Aston Villa the lead.
The Red Devils were trailing by two just goals just four minutes later as Lucas Digne scored directly from a free-kick. Luke Shaw fouled Ramsey in a dangerous position and the referee awarded Aston Villa a free-kick. Digne stepped up to take the kick and sent the ball into the top corner.
Man Utd suffer a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made two good saves to deny Manchester United from clawing their way back into the game. First, he denied Alejandro Garnacho who struck from a tight angle.
Martinez then made another good save to stop Cristiano Ronaldo from halving the deficit, with the Portuguese’s header from a Christian Eriksen cross denied by the Argentine’s right boot.
Man Utd, though, would eventually reduce their deficit to one goal before half-time. Diogo Dalot floated a cross into the Aston Villa box which the home side only half-cleared. Luke Shaw struck the ball from just outside the box, and it took a deflection off the back of Ramsey and found the net.
Martinez, the Aston Villa goalkeeper, could only watch as the deflection left him flat-footed as Man Utd headed into the half-time break with trailing by a goal.
Aston Villa, though, re-established their two-goal lead just four minutes into the second half. Lisandro Martinez’s headed clearance gave the ball away to Aston Villa, and the hosts counter-attacked.
Emiliano Buendia played the ball to Ollie Watkins, who went with it all the way into the Man Utd box before cutting it back for Ramsey, who emphatically smashed it home to send Villa 3-1 up.
Manchester United never really looked like coming back from that as the Red Devils struggled to create clear-cut chances and test Martinez in Aston Villa’s goal.
The result sees Man Utd remain fifth in the Premier League points table, while Aston Villa moved up to 13th.