ON New Year’s Day, Manchester United take on a team positioned in fifth spot for the fourth time this season.
On each previous occasion their opponents were flying high and revelling in momentum that had them tipped as unlikely top six contenders. On each occasion Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men blasted three past them and left with all the points.
First up was Everton at Goodison Park and United were ruthless and efficient that afternoon proving that even when entrenched in ‘crisis’ – as they were deemed to be at that point – they are always capable of blitzing sides into submission due to their impressive array of attacking options.
Next, a tricky trip to the south coast saw Southampton relinquish a two-goal advantage in an entertaining, topsy-turvy encounter. Going into the game the Saints were unbeaten in seven.
Finally, earlier this month West Ham hosted the Reds and with just one defeat in eight the Hammers were starting to believe they could be the surprise package of the Premier League this term. A second-half masterclass by Bruno Fernandes dented that belief considerably.
With these games it seems to be United’s remit in 2020/21 to fend off challenges from ambitious pretenders to a long-established order. And to their credit they are doing it well.
Rashford at the death, his fourth in his last four #PL games, and Man United claim all three points
Harsh on Wolves, who defended with verve and tenacity, and deserved at least a point
United up to second, just two points behind Liverpool#MUNWOL 1-0 pic.twitter.com/4LvfcBOWWU
— Unibet (@unibet) December 29, 2020
The latest side to have their nearly impeccable credentials tested is Aston Villa, who travel to Old Trafford in their best form for eons and buoyed by an accomplished draw at Chelsea last Monday that further illustrates this is a team of serious substance. United rightly go into proceedings as favourites given their own imperious form of late but don’t expect any three-goal reprimands to be handed out this time. In fact, even with Fernandes in fine creative fettle and even with Marcus Rashford having rediscovered his scoring boots United will do well to breach Dean Smith’s side at all.
That’s because, for all of their fluidity in the final third, the Villans have built their successes in recent months on a well-drilled, miserly back-line, a defence that boasts the second best goals against column in the league. In precisely half of their fixtures Villa have kept a clean sheet and since shipping in four against the Saints at the beginning of November they have relatively shut up shop conceding a goal every 144 minutes. It’s a statistic that only improves when their away commitments are isolated – conceding every 210 minutes since the season’s unveiling – and this largely explains why their record on the road is so formidable with just one loss in seven, It also explains why they will head to the Theatre of Dreams in a new calendar year with scant trepidation.
What intrigues about Villa’s defence is that only Emiliano Martinez in nets and Matty Cash can be said to have been consistently excellent in this campaign to date. Instead of relying on individual performances theirs is a solid base that works best as a unit, a collective that is ably assisted at all times by the endless running of Douglas Luiz in midfield and then possession is won and that’s when Villa truly come alive.
Jack Grealish is dominating the Premier League this season:
⬢ Most successful final ⅓ passes
⬢ Most duels won
⬢ Most touches in the opp. box
⬢ Most fouls won
⬢ Most chances created
⬡ 6 assists
⬡ 5 goalsLow socks, high output. pic.twitter.com/4lY19g4s8U
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 22, 2020
They do so by getting Jack Grealish on the ball: their extravagantly gifted and generously calved talisman who has created 51 chances in the league this season. That’s nine more than Kevin De Bruyne. Seven more than Bruno Fernandes.
Yet for all of the understandable hype surrounding Grealish some praise must be allocated too to Bertrand Traore, Villa’s summer signing from Lyon. The 25-year-old winger has hit the ground running since his arrival and has contributed heavily to the fact that Villa have made the third most crosses in the top-flight and boast the third highest number of shots on target. It’s relevant also that Ross Barkley is set to return from injury for this one because anyone who has seen his inter-play with Grealish and Ollie Watkins will know the trio have an intuitive and impactful understanding of each other’s movement.
All of which means Villa head into this game full of confidence and self-belief, knowing that a win in Manchester will be a statement that will greatly firm up their European aspirations but let’s not discount either the importance of this fixture to United.
Ahead of their hosting of Wolves this evening the Reds have strung together nine consecutive stellar results, eradicating their Jekyll and Hyde persona that so often undermined them. More so, while some diminish them for being over-reliant on Fernandes they have shared out the goals recently with nine different players converting in their last six matches. All told, they have a title challenge in their nostrils despite protestations to the contrary by their manager.
And what title challengers do is overcome the trickiest of propositions in the form of sides ‘over-achieving’, full of conviction and swagger. They have managed to do this three times before and now they must do so again and whether they are successful in this aim might depend on the closing stages of Friday’s encounter. For one thing Villa will be a tough nut to crack. Another consideration is that between them Villa and United have scored 15% of their goals this season in the 90th minute and beyond.
- Both teams to score in the second half – 9/5
- Total goals in second half +2.5 – 5/2
- United to score second half – 4/11
- Villa to score second half – 10/11
