Manchester: Manchester United ended their first evening of the new year on a winning note beating Aston Villa 2-1 in the Premier League at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester on Friday (January 1). Anthony Martial and Bruno Fernandes scored for the home side while Bertrand Traore netted one for the Visitors.
Ole Gunner Solskjaer set up his side in a 4-4-2 formation with Eric Baily being paired with Harry Maguire at the centre of the defence. A four-man midfield started for the Red Devils with Scott Mctominay alongside Fred and Paul Pogba playing in the middle of the park with the mercurial Bruno Fernandes starting by positioning himself slightly ahead of them while Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford lead the forward line.
The Red Devils put their foot on the accelerator right from the kick-off constantly putting pressure on the Villa defence. Full back Aaron Wan-Bissaka was combining beautifully with Fernandes and Rashford creating goal-scoring opportunities. It eventually led to the opener for the home side after completing a quick move exquisitely.
Pogba started to move controlling the ball sumptuously having the player on his back heading it to Rashford who laid it off for Wan-Bisakka with a finesse touch setting him off with the English right-back making a surging run before squaring it off for Anthony Martial who tapped it in.
However, towards the end of the half, Villa tried to test United goalkeeper David De Gea but wasn’t very effective. In the second half, the visitors finally got one back through Bertrand Traore after Jack Grealish found him unmarked in the box squaring it for him giving the side a ray of hope.
But that isn’t enough as United got a penalty shortly after that as Pogba went down in the box with VAR confirming the challenge on him by Douglas Luiz which looked quite controversial. Fernandes stepped up and converted his spot-kick.
The Portuguese midfield maestro has been going through a purple patch ever since he made his debut for the Red Devils completely transforming the side’s spirit. Towards the end, Villa tried their best but hardly found anything useful as the defence of the home side kept it tight.
United took full three points to level themselves on points with the league leaders Liverpool breathing on their neck.
