Manchester United beat Aston Villa 3-1 at Old Trafford, opening a three-point buffer over their Midlands rivals and taking control of the race for Champions League qualification.
When Michael Carrick took over at Old Trafford in January, they were 11 points clear of Villa. Two months on, the situation has changed dramatically in United’s favor and they are now clear favorites to secure third place.
Unai Emery’s side have won fewer points than bottom club Wolves since the start of the year, but United are in good form, picking up their fifth home win since Carrick took over and seventh overall.
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Casemiro is leading Manchester United against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Bruno Fernandes, known as a creative genius, was in action again, assisting Casemiro from a corner kick and then Matheus Cunha with a beautifully weighted line-breaking pass. Ross Barkley equalized just before Cunha scored, but that was the only time Villa showed any monotonous play. They look completely spent.
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Matheus Cunha will lead Manchester United once again in their Premier League game against Aston Villa.
As the game dragged on, the host team gained the upper hand. Benjamin Sesco made an immediate impact off the bench, pouncing on a loose ball in the box after Cunha’s cross was blocked. If 3 points wasn’t a sure thing before, it is now.
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Benjamin Sesco came off the bench to score against Aston Villa, sealing all three points.
Fernandes brought on Sesco in the closing stages to add to his impressive performance, scoring a hat-trick of assists, but super-sub Sesco missed his shot. “It’s very good to give joy to others,” Fernandez reflected afterwards. “I’m more proud and satisfied because I’m contributing to my teammates.”
Manchester United will remain six points clear in sixth place in the Premier League on Sunday, regardless of any other result, while Villa are forced to remain nervous.
Unai Emery’s side have won just three of their last 12 league games and appear to lack the spirit needed to keep pace in this fascinating European race.
Keane: United confirmed to qualify for Champions League
Roy Keane of Sky Sports:
“Yes, I think that’s definitely true.
“Let’s not let anything distract us, just focus on the game and try to recover. “Villa looked a bit calm today (after playing in the Europa League on Thursday), but United were quite comfortable in the second half.
“If you give a player like Bruno time and space, you will be punished. I think United have an absolute guarantee of qualifying for the Champions League.”
Emery ‘very motivated’ to stay in top four
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery:
“My expectations before were more or less on the field. In the first half we competed well.
“We defended well in the first half, we were even, we felt good. But we needed to get something more offensively. In the second half, we lost in the first 10 or 15 minutes. They are a very good team in transition, maybe even better than us.”
“The idea was to stay calm, take advantage of our positioning and hang on, but we got emotional and conceded the goal. It was more difficult for us to react, but we’ll go for it. They had good momentum. Overall, I feel we did something good, but it wasn’t enough.”
“In the last two months, we have struggled even more. We are working on improving our structure. It was a bad result for us. We have to accept it and analyze it for the next task. We have to do more and show more and more competitiveness. Balance is very important now. We have to be stronger.”
“I’m very motivated to achieve my goals.”
