Although Aston Villa are in the relegation zone and battling to stay in the Premier League, and United were unbeaten in their last 20 Premier League away games against Aston Villa, for the fourth Premier League game running, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer still named an unchanged side. It’s the first time since 2006 that United have been unchanged in the league over four matches. In the end, the Reds set a new Premier League standard by becoming the first team to win four consecutive games in the competition by three goals or more, as United continued their impressive recent run with Aston Villa eventually overcome 3-0.
Said Ole after the match, “We should have won by five clear goals in all of them! I’m surprised by that stat, but we should have had so many more goals. We’re keeping clean sheets, which is great and I think we could have had a few more the other way……But hopefully the goal difference won’t be the deciding factor at the end.’
Another record set was with David de Gea becoming United’s leading appearance maker from overseas with 399 games, surpassing the legendary Peter Schmeichel. During the match the Spaniard was called into action just once, a comfortable save from John McGinn’s long range drive.
My Man of the Match award goes to Bruno Fernandes. Since being brought in from Sporting Lisbon, he has completely revitalized the side from being a slow, ponderous team to one as we all remember it under Sir Alex, full of attacking intent and dynamism.
United have now extended their unbeaten streak to 17 games in all competitions and closed to just within a point of fourth-placed Leicester.
Article contributed by Contributor Kenneth. Comments are appreciated on our Facebook page.