United's Top Four Hopes Relighted by McTominay Late Winner

Scott McTominay’s newfound penchant for scoring decisive goals helped Manchester United secure three points at Villa Park and pull themselves back into the top four race.

Aston Villa welcomed a resurgent United side, knowing a win would leapfrog them ahead of fourth-placed Spurs and open up an 11 point gap between them and sixth-placed United. Instead, that gap was closed to just five points as McTominay’s 86th minute header completed a 2-1 win for the Red Devils.

United started the game strongly, Hojlund pressing the Villa defence into giving the ball away, before playing a quick one-two with Fernandes to get behind the defence, only to be blocked by a last-gasp Diego Carlos block.

Villa looked uncomfortable every time United put the ball into their area, with the man-of-the-match Maguire constantly causing them issues. In the 17th minute it was Maguire who beat Kamara in the air to nod on to Hojlund to knock home his fifth goal in five games and put United ahead.

This was the kick Villa needed to wake up. McGinn went close after a botched Onana clearance and was then at the heart of things again, putting Watkins through with a perfectly weighted pass, but Onana did well to close the angle down.

Villa were kicking into life and the home faithful had found their voice, with United beginning to look nervy. Onana in particular seemed affected, skewing several clearances out of play, but the Reds made it to the break with their lead intact.

The start of the second half saw Villa pick up where they left off with Onana involved again. Watkins beat Varane to Cash’s ball at the near post and the Cameroonian goalkeeper did brilliantly to save with one arm from 4 yards out.

It suddenly felt backs to the wall from United, but their pace on the counter still gave them a threat. The tactic was clear, exploit Villa’s high line with balls over the top for Rashford, Hojlund and Garnacho to run onto.

The pressure was building as Villa won several corners in succession, finally breaking through from one in the 66th minute. Onana saved again from Lenglet but United couldn’t properly clear their lines and Bailey’s deflected shot-cum-cross fell into Douglas Luiz’s path to smash home from 8 yards out for his 7th of the season.

Now it was all Villa and the stadium was rocking. Dalot’s scuffed clearance fell straight to Luiz but he couldn’t connect properly. Diaby, off the bench, was causing United havoc down their left hand side and was played through by Mcginn only to completely miscue his shot as Villa continued to look the most likely to find a winner.

But they couldn’t make use of their momentum and as the game began threatening to fizzle out, quick feet from Mainoo gave Dalot the space to swing in a delightful ball from the right hand side, finding the head of substitute McTominay to secure a third straight league win for United.

Watkins and Cash had two late chances to salvage an equaliser, but both could only direct their efforts straight into Onana’s hands as Villa were left to rue their missed chances.

Teams

Aston Villa

1. Martinez

2. Cash

3. Carlos

17. Lenglet

15. Moreno

44. Kamara

6. Luiz

31. Bailey

7. McGinn

41. Ramsay

11. Watkins

Subs used:

8. Tielemans

12. Digne

19. Diaby

22. Zaniolo

Manchester United

24. Onana

20. Dalot

19. Varane

5. Maguire

23. Shaw

37. Mainoo

18. Casemiro

17. Garnacho

8. Fernandes

10. Rashford

11. Hojlund

Subs used:

2. Lindelof

4. Amrabat

35. Evans

39. McTominay