A purpose from Bruno Fernandes secured United’s 1–0 victory, expanding their possibilities of completing within the best 4 and proceeding their dominant shape at house.
Erik ten Hag’s aspect are fourth within the standings with 63 issues from 32 fits and feature a recreation in hand on fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur who’re on 54 issues.
United are unbeaten at house in 15 instantly Premier League video games, with simply 3 attracts. They have no longer misplaced at Old Trafford for the reason that opening weekend of the season in opposition to Brighton & Hove Albion.
United put Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez to paintings early with a number of nice possibilities ahead of they had been in the end rewarded within the thirty ninth minute.
Martinez dove to push away Marcus Rashford’s shot after the United striker’s well-timed run, and Fernandes sprinted in for a one-touch shot from a good perspective.
Unai Emery’s Villa, whose defeat was once their first in 11 video games, are 6th within the standings, with 54 issues from 33 fits. They additionally failed to attain for the primary time of their 21 video games since Emery took fee.
The victory comes 3 days after Ten Hag chastised his avid gamers for no longer giving 100% in a 2-2 draw at Spurs.
They answered properly on Sunday, with a number of early possibilities together with Marcel Sabitzer’s volley that sailed simply over the purpose, and Casemiro’s curling shot a couple of mins later that got here again out off the crossbar.
While Villa had been higher after the wreck, United nonetheless had extra possibilities, together with a pair from Rashford on my own. In the 59th minute, he break up two Villa defenders ahead of Martinez raced off his line to clutch the ball away.
Some superb protecting stored the guests from drawing stage within the loss of life mins, together with a few rapid-fire clearances from Sabitzer, together with his foot, and Victor Lindelof, together with his head.
“A good three points but I think an impressive performance from Manchester United. We were magnificent on the ball, had good possession and pressed well,” Ten Hag advised the BBC.
“In the second half you want to go 2-0 ahead but we didn’t so it’s always going to be a tough finish.
“(Lindelof) performed brilliantly. He was once utterly in keep watch over within the space round (Villa striker Ollie) Watkins.”
Hundreds of fans, burning flares and hoisting a large banner that read “Full sale most effective” marched to Old Trafford before the game to protest the Glazer family’s ownership of the team.
(With inputs from Reuters)