Aston Villa vs Manchester United LIVE: Premier League result and final score after Philippe Coutinho equaliser
Follow the reaction as Aston Villa claimed a sensational point against Manchester United
Follow live reaction as Philippe Coutinho scored the equalising goal on his Aston Villa debut to secure a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the Premier League. United looked set to claim their second win over Steven Gerrard’s side in a week but Coutinho’s introduction changed the game as he set one up and scored another to complete a wild comeback at Villa Park.
Just five days on from knocking Villa out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford, United were handed an early lead as goalkeeper Emi Martinez allowed a Fernandes shot from range through his legs. Villa responded well and David de Gea was forced into a couple of important stops at the other end, and it was the hosts who were on top when Fernandes added his second on 67 minutes.
It came just as Villa were preparing to bring on Coutinho, and the Brazilian had a hand in the hosts pulling a goal back as Jacob Ramsey fired a finish past De Gea with 15 minutes left to play. Coutinho then finished Ramsey’s cross from close range to complete the comeback.
Follow all the reaction to Aston Villa vs Manchester United below:
Man City vs Chelsea: Tuchel on City
Thomas Tuchel spoke about the drop off in Chelsea’s fortunes since the start of the season which has seen them fall 10 points behind Manchester City in the race for the Premier League table.
Tuchel says that the rising cases from Covid-19 haven’t helped his squad in a race where every dropped point could be crucial. Speaking ahead of today’s match he said:
Man City opened the gap not over the last months, they opened the gap over the last years and I wasn’t ever shy to say this. We try to close it. We were self-confident enough to say we will try to close it from the first day of the season. This is what we did and we did it very good.
“I want to be very clear about it. I will be absolutely happy with the players who travel with us and will be on the pitch, and we will inject the most confidence that we can have. We will come up with a plan and we will push and help and support in the best way, but the team is a different team when everybody is available. It’s as simple as that.
“If you have your 19 or 20 players from 23 always constantly available, this creates the energy, the atmosphere and the extra edge that you need if you want to be at the level where Man City is. We don’t have it. It’s no excuse. It’s just a description and explanation of the situation in which we find ourselves in the last weeks.”
Man City vs Chelsea: Injuries and absentees
Manchester City will be without Riyad Mahrez who is at the Africa Cup of Nations. John Stones is nearing a comeback from injury and according to manager Pep Guardiola there a new Covid-19 cases in City’s squad although no specific players were mentioned.
Covid-19 is the reason Andreas Christensen misses the match for Chelsea and he is joined by Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Trevoh Chalobah who are all injured.
Like Mahrez, Chelsea’s first choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is at AFCON so Kepa Arrizabalaga is expected to start in goal after an impressive performance against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Premier League: Man City vs Chelsea
Chelsea head to Manchester City for Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off, knowing they realistically need a victory to blow the title race back wide open. Pep Guardiola’s side have been relentless in the league of late and opened up a 10-point lead between themselves and the Blues, so there’s very little pressure on City to go all-out for the win.
That said, they could really exert their dominance and make a point over last year’s Champions League final being a one-off if they took the game to Thomas Tuchel’s team and triumphed to further increase their lead at the top.
In midweek it was Chelsea who triumphed, in the Carabao Cup semi-finals against Tottenham, to book themselves a spot at Wembley and await either Liverpool or Arsenal. City, by contrast, have had over a week to recover since their FA Cup third-round win over Swindon. They have won seven in a row in all competitions and 14 of the last 15, a phenomenal run of form which has them looking at yet another league title.
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