Aston Villa vs Man Utd LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Scott McTominay scores dramatic late winner
Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester United: McTominay came off the bench as Erik ten Hag’s side closed the gap on the top four with a huge win at Villa Park
Super-sub Scott McTominay scored a late winner as Manchester United continued to inch up the Premier League table with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa.
Erik ten Hag’s United are sixth on 41 points after their third consecutive victory, five points behind fifth-placed Villa who would have climbed to fourth spot with a win.
Rasmus Hojlund scored his fifth goal in five games to put United ahead in the 17th minute, knocking in Harry Maguire’s header from close range through keeper Emi Martinez’s legs.
United keeper Andre Onana produced several huge saves to keep Villa off the scoresheet until Douglas Luiz levelled in the 67th minute. But Scotland’s McTominay came on in the 73rd minute to score the winner in the 86th, leaping to head a superb cross from Diogo Dalot past Martinez.
Relive all the action from Aston Villa vs Manchester United below:
Scott McTominay delivers another crucial victory for Manchester United’s maligned heroes
If the return of the Champions League on Tuesday offers Manchester United an unwelcome reminder of what they have lost, their exile from the European elite may be briefer than was feared. Cast ignominiously out of continental competition two months ago, their domestic form suggested they would not be making an immediate form.
But perhaps they might. From what seemed the wreckage of a wretched season, Erik ten Hag’s team are on a charge towards the Champions League places.
Their longest winning run of the campaign brought their best result; a second late winner against Aston Villa in seven weeks meant the gap between them, which could have swelled to 11 points, has instead been sliced to five. Lose and United’s hopes of overhauling Unai Emery’s team would have been unrealistic at best. Victory gave them the momentum while Villa have three straight home defeats.
Scott McTominay delivers crucial victory for Manchester United’s maligned heroes
Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester United: Erik ten Hag’s side are surging back towards the Champions League places after McTominay’s latest winner, and they also have the likes of Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund to thank
Coming up next
Aston Villa will look to get back to winning ways next weekend as they travel to London to take on Fulham. United, meanwhile, will look to make it four Premier League wins on the spin as they take on Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.
That’s all for today, though - catch you next time!
Unai Emery speaking to Sky Sports
“We did everything we planned. We controlled the game and we avoided the transitions and we didn’t concede a lot of chances. We created chances but we couldn’t score some clear chances. I am very proud of our work and of the players.
“We are playing against the mighty Manchester United but we are being more consistent in matches in the league. The result is tough for us and difficult to accept but that is football. We played like we planned and we deserved more.
“We created chances and sometimes we are being clinical and sometimes we aren’t, like today. But these are the ideas that we wanted. We created through our identity and our style. Sometimes we will be clinical and sometimes we won’t be. We wanted to have control of the game and avoid transitions. That was the first idea we had and we did.”
More from McGinn
“We’ve got to remember how far we’ve come as a team and a club. It’s my job to make sure we stick together. We’ve come a long way. We’re still in a great position to achieve something special. If we play like that today we’ll win more games than we lose.
“I could feel us winning it [in the second half]. We had chances on the break, they were breaking but not creating chances. They had moments of quality, we were getting into great positions. We stuck to the game plan.
“Our supporters were getting a bit frustrated, but I think they wanted us to be up and at them. I think on another day we win this this game. We’re at a big club, the fans are expecting. We are expecting that. It’s my job to keep the team together.
“We don’t want to blame everyone. These things happen in a season. We’ve had huge injuries throughout the season, it’s gone under the radar and the manager doesn’t make excuses. We can still achieve something special this season and today was a massive step towards that.”
John McGinn speaking to Sky Sports
“It’s a real sickener. I think we did more than enough to win the game - it felt like we had chance after chance in that second half but it just didn’t go in. A couple fell to Douglas Luiz’s left foot but if they fall to his right foot, we are winning that game 2-1 or 3-1.
“But in this league, you have world-class players and just one moment of sheer quality is all you need. Maybe we could have defended it better but it’s a tremendous cross and big Scottie is great at coming in and timing his runs. It’s a great header and a sucker punch for us.”
Sticky patch at Villa Park
Having only lost three of their opening 18 Premier League games of this season (W12 D3), Aston Villa have since lost three of their last six (W2 D1), including both of their last two at Villa Park.
Let’s get some reaction from the home camp...
More from Ten Hag
On Luke Shaw, who was taken off at half-time: “[It was a] precaution. He had some complaints and we can’t take any risks with him because he’s had any injuries in the past. We’ll have to see how it goes in the next few days.
“It’s not an advantage to lose him, everyone knows my philosophy to have left-footers at left centre-back and left-back. We have to make compromises and it is not to our advantage.”
Ten Hag speaking to Sky Sports
“It is a massive win for us. We’ve got closer and that was the aim for today. That was absolutely our target and we’ve done it. The way we did it, I liked it. I especially liked the first 20 minutes when we controlled the game. At 1-1 we had to fight back and we are really happy.
“At 1-1, you always have to see how the game progresses and I think it was really high intensity and you could see how many players were fatigued by the end. It was so open and it could go two ways but we found the mentality and character to win the game. The subs also had an impact.
On McTominay: “Scott is great. He can score many goals. He’s always coming into positions to score goals. We had problems - it was too much like a tennis match - we had problems in the counter-attack. We knew Scott would get into the box and can score goals.”
Record-breaking Rasmus
Another goal for Rasmus Hojlund who becomes the second-youngest player to score in five successive Premier League appearances, trailing only Nicolas Anelka for Arsenal in November 1998 (19y 239d).
More from Maguire
On the game’s set-pieces: “I don’t think either team did the best defending them and both teams were aggressive attacking them. I got a couple of first contacts in the first half - I wasn’t sure if Rasmus [Hojlund] was offside [for the first goal] but it must have been tight.
“They got the equaliser with a set play too. It’s a huge part of football and they decide big matches nowadays. Quite frankly, over the last couple of years, this club has not been good enough at attacking and defending them so we need to improve that. If we do, we’ll climb up the table.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies