Manchester United may have managed to quell – temporarily at least – the negative voices surrounding the team’s performance this season. The hosts came back to secure all three points at Old Trafford, beating an Aston Villa side that seemed to take a rather creative approach to defense.
For the first ten minutes, all talk focused on the hotly-anticipated banner funded by a group of disgruntled United fans. The plane flew overhead, the crowd below boo’d the banner reading “Wrong One Moyes Out.”
But by the 13th minute, the Old Trafford faithful were once again shaking their heads. Rafael, unable to deal with Gabby Agbonlahor’s pace, brought down the Villa forward just outside the box. Ashley Westwood sent the resulting free kick curving over the wall, landing directly in the corner of David De Gea’s net.
It took just seven minutes for United to draw level. The Villa defense, sleepwalking yet again, gave plenty of space for Shinji Kagawa to put in a cross. Wayne Rooney, unmarked inside the box, had no trouble flicking the ball past Brad Guzan for the equalizer.
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By halftime, Aston Villa fans must’ve been wondering if they were stuck watching a repeat of last week’s 4-1 loss to Stoke, another game in which they took an early lead. This time, Leandro Bacuna made the curious decision to clip Juan Mata’s shins inside the area. Martin Atkinson wasted no time in pointing to the spot and Rooney wasted no time putting in his shot. His perfect penalty flew into the bottom right corner, giving Guzan no chance.
Christian Benteke missed a golden opportunity to put the visitors level at the start of the second half. The Belgian got on the end of a ball from Marc Albrighton, chesting it down perfectly. Then, with plenty of space to shoot, he managed to whiff his shot completely.
Villa came to regret that wonderful miss in the 57th minute, when Mata put United up 3-1 with his first goal for his new side. Marouane Fellaini made space inside the area, but it was the Spaniard that was able to find a clear opportunity on goal, putting his shot into the bottom right corner.
As if that weren’t enough for the hapless Villa, Javier Hernández had to go and score a fourth in injury time, perfectly mimicking last week’s defeat. Fellow substitute Adnan Januzaj was the creator, slipping down the left before sliding the ball to Chicharito at the far post.
Manchester United: De Gea; Rafael (Carrick 46), Jones, Vidic, Buttner; Young, Fellaini, Fletcher, Kagawa (Januzaj 68); Mata, Rooney (Hernández 75)
Goals: Rooney 20′, 45′; Mata 57; Hernández 91′
Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Vlaar, Clark, Bertrand, Westwood, Delph, Albrighton (Lowton 78), Weimann, Benteke, Agbonlahor (Tonev 71)
Goals: Westwood 13′
