Aston Villa will look to end their 2024/25 season on a high on Sunday afternoon, when travelling to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United on the final day of the Premier League campaign.
Having already secured European football for a third straight year, a win could again secure a Champions League spot for Unai Emery’s side, should other results fall in their favour.
After winning nine of their last 11 league outings, and each of their last three, Villa enter the clash sixth in the table – level on points with both Chelsea in fifth and Newcastle United in fourth, and two points behind third-placed Manchester City.
They face a United side coming in on the back of midweek disappointment, after defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday night.
Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils have endured an underwhelming league campaign, and are currently sat 16th, with a 14th-placed finish the best they could achieve, taking just two points from their last eight league outings.
Stats
Morgan Rogers has more Premier League assists than any other Aston Villa player this season (10), while only three players have ever provided more in a single campaign for the Villans – Ashley Young in 2007/08 (14), Ollie Watkins in 2023/24 (13) and James Milner in 2009/10 (12).
Bruno Fernandes is Manchester United’s top scorer in the Premier League this season with eight goals. The last time the Red Devils failed to have a single player reach double figures in a single top-flight campaign was 1973/74, when Sammy McIlroy was their top scorer with six.
Aston Villa have won nine of their last 11 Premier League games (L2), just one fewer than opponents Manchester United have won all season (10). Overall the Villans have won 19 Premier League games this term, and could win 20+ in consecutive top-flight campaigns for the first time since 1930/31 (three in a row).
Manchester United have lost 18 of their 37 Premier League games this season. They’ve not lost as many as half of their games in a single league campaign since 1933/34 (22/42 in the second tier), while they last did so in the top-flight in 1930/31 (27/42).
Manchester United are winless in their last eight Premier League games (D2 L6), losing the last three in a row. It’s their longest run without a league win since between November 1989 and January 1990 (11), while they last lost four in a row in the same season in February 1979.
Manchester United will finish this Premier League campaign without winning two matches in a row all season – it’s only the third time in the club's history that they've gone an entire league season without winning back-to-back games, after 1893/94 and 1921/22.
Aston Villa have won just once on the last 26 occasions their final league game of the season has come away from home (D7 L18), winning 3-1 at Chelsea in 2001/02.
Only Arsenal (23) have won their final Premier League game of the season more often than Manchester United (22), while the Red Devils also have the lowest loss rate of any team to compete in at least 10 campaigns (12.5% - 4/32).
Aston Villa have earned eight points from their last seven Premier League games against Man Utd (W2 D2 L3), as many as they had in their previous 31 (W1 D5 L25).
Manchester United have won 40 Premier League games against Aston Villa – only the Red Devils themselves have beaten an opponent more often (42 vs Everton).
The Last Meeting
The last meeting between these two sides ended in a goalless draw at Villa Park back at the start of October, as both sides picked up a point.
Coming just four days after a historic win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League, the Villans struggled to replicate the midweek scenes in B6.
They were frustrated by their northern visitors, as Morgan Rogers, Jaden Philogene, Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins all went close, but proved unable to breach the stubborn United defence.
Team News
Unai Emery refused to rule out Youri Tielemans for the clash. The midfielder has missed Villa's last two outings through injury, but Emery revealed in his pre-match press conference that Tielemans had trained on Friday and would be fit enough to feature should he make it through Saturday's session too.
Elsewhere, Villa will welcome Jacob Ramsey back from a one-match suspension he served against Spurs last Friday, though Man Utd loanee Marcus Rashford is ineligible to face his parent side.
Ruben Amorim was boosted by the returns of Diogo Dalot, Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee from injury for Wednesday night's final, though the United head coach hinted pre-match that Yoro may not be risked at Old Trafford.
Defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martínez remain United's only absentees through injury.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“My respect is massive respect for Manchester United, for the players and for the coach. I expect the best of them, because they will play honestly for Premier League, for their supporters, to try and show their capacity and level to compete. I am very positive. I am very excited. I am very motivated.”
Unai Emery
"(Aston Villa) have that stability, they are used to fighting for the first places. The way we need to get up is to focus on the next game, to finish in a good way and then we will have time.”
Ruben Amorim
2025/26 Away Kit
Strip to be worn for first time