At A Glance
Aston Villa welcome second place Manchester United to Villa Park on Sunday for a Premier League clash.
Fresh from a fine away day win against Everton (2-1), Dean Smith’s men are looking to pick up consecutive victories for the first time since December.
They’re also looking to inflict some revenge on United after a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day in the reverse fixture.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men reached the Europa League final on Thursday night, defeating Roma 8-5 on aggregate following a 3-2 loss at Stadio Olimpico.
Domestically, the Red Devils are the only Premier League side yet to suffer a defeat on their travels this season, putting together a 17-game unbeaten run.
United have also put together a 14-match unbeaten run in the top-flight, last tasting defeat against Sheffield United in January.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa have picked up just one win in their last 44 Premier League games against Manchester United (D11 L32) and are winless in their last 16 against them since a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in December 2009.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 21 Premier League away games against Aston Villa (W14 D7) since a 3-1 loss on the opening day of the 1995-96 campaign. It’s the longest unbeaten away run one side has had against another in English league history.
In all competitions, Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 21 away games against Aston Villa since a 3-0 League Cup loss in October 1999. Only Liverpool at Sunderland (23 between 1959-2002) have had a longer unbeaten away run against an opponent in English football.
Aston Villa’s 14 clean sheets this season is their most in a single Premier League campaign since 2009-10 (15). However, the Villans have conceded at least once in each of their last seven games, with no Premier League side on a longer current run without a clean sheet.
Aston Villa are looking to secure back-to-back Premier League victories for the first time since December. However, they’ve not beaten a team in the top two in the Premier League since March 2014 (1-0 vs Chelsea), drawing three and losing nine of their 12 such games since.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 24 Premier League away games (W15 D9), just three short of Arsenal’s all-time top-flight record between April 2003 and September 2004. In their 10 away league games so far in 2021, Manchester United have kept seven clean sheets and conceded just once in each of the other three.
Manchester United have lost just one of their last 27 Premier League matches (W17 D9). Indeed, the Red Devils are on the longest current unbeaten run in the Premier League, winning seven and drawing six since their 1-2 home loss to Sheffield United in January.
Bruno Fernandes has scored in both of his Premier League games against Aston Villa. Both goals came from the penalty spot, and both goals ended up being the winning goal of the game.
After a run of one goal in 13 Premier League games, Aston Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi has scored in his last two top-flight appearances, including the winner at Everton last time out.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has initiated six open play sequences of play that have ended in a goal in the Premier League this season – no player has done so more often (Youri Tielemans also six).
The Last Meeting
The two teams kicked off 2021 with a New Year’s Day meeting at Old Trafford.
Anthony Martial scored the opener for the Red Devils, who were pegged back when Bertrand Traore fired home in the second half.
But Bruno Fernandes ensured all three points would be staying in Manchester when he netted from the penalty spot.
Team News
Jack Grealish misses out again for the Villans, who are also without Morgan Sanson.
Villa’s skipper is back out on the grass, but the game has come too soon for the influential attacker.
Anthony Martial and Daniel James were absent for United’s midweek Europa League triumph through injury, while Phil Jones is a long-term absentee.
The Boss
“They’ve got a lot of games to play, they’ve got a couple final to look forward to and they’ll be looking to cement their second place spot. They’ve done very well this season and we know we’re coming up against a very good team. They were the ones who were pushing Manchester City until about eight to ten games ago when Manchester City started pulling away. They’ve had a very good season and it’s something that’s been building. They lost away from home last night, so hopefully they can lose that first away game in the Premier League on Sunday.”
Dean Smith
