Manchester United vs Aston Villa Premier League preview, Digi Mart USA News: Manchester United will attempt to win for only the second time in the Premier League season when they face Aston Villa, a side that lost in the Champions League on Tuesday, at Old Trafford on Sunday. BBC Sport examines some of the key themes ahead of the meeting.
United’s comeback win against Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday provided some welcome respite for beleaguered manager Michael Carrick, along with a show of fight from his players. United responded to going two goals down in the opening 18 minutes by producing arguably their finest 45 minutes of the campaign so far in the second half, with forward Matheus Cunha capping off a 3-2 victory.
For the first time this season, United prevented their opponent from having a shot in the second half and won more duels (41) than in any other game after half-time. The challenge for Carrick and his players will be to repeat that performance across 90 minutes five days later in the Premier League.
United are one of only two sides without a Premier League clean sheet this season, along with Ipswich Town. Nine matches is the longest period they have gone from the start of a top-flight campaign without recording a shutout since 1987.
The last side to finish in the top three of the top flight and then fail to keep a clean sheet in their first 10 games of the following season was Liverpool, 50 years ago.
Carrick’s side have not won in the Premier League since beating Ipswich on August 30. This match takes place 70 days, or 1,680 hours, after that solitary victory.
United, though, have a good record against Aston Villa at Old Trafford. They have lost just two of the past 31 home meetings in the Premier League, most recently in 2021-22.
Villa have a quick turnaround of their own following their 3-0 defeat at Barcelona on Tuesday, which was their joint-heaviest loss in major European competition.
The Champions League setback highlighted an Achilles heel of Unai Emery’s side this season: they have made the most errors leading to goals in all competitions of any Premier League team, along with Sunderland.
Since beating Manchester City in October, Villa have been knocked out of the League Cup at Bournemouth, drawn with Fulham and lost at the Nou Camp, so a rare away win in this fixture would be timely. Villa won their first Premier League match against United under Emery in November 2022, but that came at home.
Emery has never won in nine career attempts at Old Trafford, losing on all five visits with Villa.
Now would be the perfect time to end that record as he approaches a 200th Premier League game as a manager. The 55-year-old will become the fifth Spaniard to reach the milestone after Rafael Benitez, Roberto Martinez, Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta.
Benitez’s and Arteta’s 200th matches also came against United, and both avoided defeats.
