Man Utd 1-0 Aston Villa: Player ratings as Bruno Fernandes earns vital win
A first half goal from Bruno Fernandes was enough to earn Man Utd a crucial win over high-flying Aston Villa on Sunday.
The Villans had gone into the game just six points adrift of Man Utd in the race for Champions League qualification, but were largely outplayed by the home side at Old Trafford.
The hosts were in the ascendancy early on, with Marcus Rashford and Fernandes in particular causing the Villa backline some problems. The pair combined in the 12 minute to almost open the scoring, but after being played through on goal by Fernandes, Rashford saw his effort on goal from the left of the penalty area well smothered by Emi Martinez.
The Red Devils would then come within a whisker of going ahead in the 27th minute through Casemiro. A wonderful sweeping move culminated in Casemiro being played the just inside the penalty area by Jadon Sancho. After controlling, the Brazillian side-footed an looping effort over the outstretched arm of Martinez and off the crossbar.
In the 39th minute, Man Utd would finally take a deserved lead through the mercurial Fernandes.
The goal would come after Rashford stormed in behind the Villa defence to latch onto a flick-on header, before drilling a low effort from the left of the penalty area toward the bottom corner of the net. While Martinez was on hand to save Rashford effort, Fernandes was quickest to react in the follow up to tap home the opening goal.
The second half proved to be very evenly contested and devoid of any notable goalmouth until the 72nd minute when Casemiro curled a wonderful first-time effort from fully 25-yards out just wide of the left post.
With 10 minutes remaining, Aston Villa would create their best chance of the game. Said chance would fall to midfielder Douglas Luiz, who latched onto a loose ball in the Man Utd penalty area to get two shots on goal. The first of which was blocked on the edge of the six-yard box by Marcel Sabitzer, and the second - a much better strike from the Brazilian - flew past David de Gea in goal but not Victor Lindelof, who'd cleverly dropped back onto the goal-line where he'd block Luiz's strike.
Man Utd player ratings
GK - David de Gea - 5/10 - The Man Utd number one didn't have a whole lot to do.
RB - Diogo Dalot - 6/10 - Busy on the flank.
CB - Victor Lindelof - 8/10 - Has filled in very well since the first-choice centre-back pair suffered injuries. Made a brilliant goalline clearance to keep his side in the lead.
CB - Luke Shaw - 6/10 - Already an infinitely better centre-back than Harry Maguire.
LB - Tyrell Malacia - 6/10 - A solid outing for the young full-back.
CM - Casemiro - 7/10 - Kept things ticking over in midfield for the home side and hit the crossbar in the first half.
CM - Christian Eriksen - 7/10 - Uses the ball so, so, so well.
RM - Bruno Fernandes - 8/10 - Best player on the pitch. Scored the opener and was at the heart of everything good that Man Utd did.
AM - Marcel Sabitzer - 6/10 - Active on and off the ball throughout. Decent showing from the Austrian.
LM - Jadon Sancho - 4/10 - Saw a lot of the ball but needed to use it quicker than he did in dangerous areas.
ST - Marcus Rashford - 6/10 - Stretched Villa's defence with runs in behind.
Substitutes
Antony - 5/10.
Fred - 5/10.
Anthony Martial - N/A.
Harry Maguire - N/A.
Manager
Erik ten Hag- 6/10 - The decision to move Bruno Fernandes out wide proved to be a good one.
Aston Villa player ratings
GK - Emi Martinez - 4/10 - Was kept busy by Rashford in particular. Probably could've pushed the Man Utd's strike further wide than he did in the lead up to Man Utd's opener.
RB - Ashley Young - 5/10 - Worked hard up and down the flank.
CB - Ezri Konza - 4/10 - Struggled to deal with Rashford's pace.
CB - Tyrone Mings - 4/10 - Like his centre-back partner, the runs in behind proved to be an issue for Mings.
LB - Alex Moreno - 4/10 - Struggled to keep track of Fernandes.
RM - John McGinn - 5/10 - As dogged as ever, but lacked a bit of quality on the ball.
CM - Leander Dendoncker - 3/10 - Struggled against the quality in Man Utd's midfield.
CM - Douglas Luiz - 4/10 - Should've equalised late in the game.
LM - Jacob Ramsey - 5/10 - Not quite at his best.
ST - Emi Buendia - 4/10 - A quiet showing from the Argentine.
ST - Ollie Watkins - 5/10 - A willing runner for Villa, but didn't get enough of the ball.
Substitutes
Calum Chambers - 5/10.
Bertrand Traore - N/A.
Jhon Duran - N/A.
Lucas Digne - N/A.
Manager
Unai Emery 5/10 - The 4-4-2 didn't really work due to the sheer quality Man Utd have in the middle of the park.