Man United v Aston Villa LIVE: Rasmus Hojlund scores first Premier League goal to complete comeback win
Erik ten Hag is under immense pressure after a series of poor results and Sir Jim Ratcliffe agreeing to purchase 25 percent of the club
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United continue to endure their latest crisis under Erik ten Hag after a humbling at West Ham, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe agreeing a deal to purchase 25 percent of the club.
Ten Hag is therefore desperate for points to ease the pressure, while injuries continue to further heighten the difficulty of the task with Aston Villa visiting Old Trafford this evening.
Unai Emery’s side have been surprise title contenders so far this season, but must bounce back after a frustrating draw at home to Sheffield United, making this an intriguing contest with both sides likely to push for victory.
Follow all the updates from the Premier League’s festive schedule, plus team news and all live action from Old Trafford below - plus check out the latest odds and tips for the festive football here.
Garnacho the architect of Manchester United’s most timely of revivals as Ineos era starts with a win
Sir Dave Brailsford has taken sportsmen to Olympic gold medals and Tour de France wins. It would be an exaggeration to say a new face in the Old Trafford directors’ box was a galvanising force but as regime change is coming, Manchester United could at least savour a shift in their fortunes. Wretched in the first half, revived in the second, they produced a comeback that was both spirited and timely: not least, perhaps, for Erik ten Hag, who had endured the Aston Villa fans’ taunts that he would be sacked and then oversaw his best win of the season in front of a new powerbroker.
It was timely, too, for Rasmus Hojlund, who has endured a traumatic start to life in the Premier League, but whose belated first goal – 15 matches and 1,027 minutes on the pitch into his top-flight career in England – was a winner against an in-form side near the top of the table.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos are paying a colossal amount for their share of United – some £1.3bn for a quarter of what has looked a failing football club – and if they have questions about the transfer outlay in recent years, the £72m striker offered an indication of what he can provide.
Garnacho the architect of Manchester United’s most timely of revivals
Man United 3-2 Aston Villa: Alejandro Garnacho hit a brace and Rasmus Hojlund found the back of the net for the first time in over 1000 Premier League minutes as the hosts came from behind to win
Sir Jim Ratcliffe calls for ‘patience’ in message to Man Utd fans
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has reached out to fans after agreeing to buy a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United, telling them he takes his responsibility to put the club back on top of world football “very seriously” but also calling for patience.
United announced on Christmas Eve that Ratcliffe, the chairman of INEOS, had finalised a £1.25billion deal for a share of the Premier League outfit and will invest more than £236m to refurbish the debt-laden club’s infrastructure.
INEOS will also take over the management of United’s football operations.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe sends message to Man Utd fans
A deal for the INEOS founder to take a 25 per cent stake in the club was agreed on Christmas Eve
Sir Jim Ratcliffe will have no honeymoon as he faces urgent problems at Manchester United
When Sir Jim Ratcliffe was born, Manchester United were champions of England. If that was an unusual status for them then – Sir Matt Busby’s triumph in 1952 was United’s first in 41 years – the chances are that Ratcliffe hopes their 21st title will come with him in the boardroom. It has taken him seven decades to travel the seven miles from his Failsworth birthplace to Old Trafford and a status as co-owner of United. That, and the accumulation of remarkable wealth; some £1.3bn has been required for the petrochemicals tycoon to purchase a 25 per cent stake in the club.
Now the Glazer family’s share of United is lower than it has been at any stage since their 2005 leveraged buyout. If one era has not ended, another has begun. Change is coming to the Old Trafford boardroom; perhaps to other levels of a club that has underachieved on the pitch in the last decade, too. The questions revolve around how much and how quickly; around who, and why, and when.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe will have no honeymoon as he faces urgent problems at Man United
Ratcliffe has completed his lifelong dream by purchasing a stake in Manchester United – but reality is set to bite immediately
Bruno Fernandes insists Man United players unaffected by Ineos completing minority ownership deal
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes praised his teammates for the manner of their comeback victory over Aston Villa - but insisted that there was no correlation between a Red Devils resurgence and the fact they were playing in front of Sir David Brailsford, two days after Ineoscompleted their minority share takeover deal of the club.
Sat in the stands for the first match since that deal was completed, Brailsford is expected to have a position of influence over football matters, but would not have been impressed by a first half which saw Villa leading by two at the interval.
However, Alejandro Garnacho scored twice and Rasmus Hojlund finally netted his first Premier League goal - after more than 1,000 goalless minutes in the competition - to turn the match around and had United three points. The home players were spurred on only by the need for improvement though, said Fernandes, not by new faces in the boardroom.
Fernandes insists Man United players unaffected by Ineos completing deal
Erik ten Hag’s side won from behind against Aston Villa
FT: Manchester United 3-2 Aston Villa
Finally, here is a match report from Rich Jolly at Old Trafford:
Sir Dave Brailsford has taken sportsmen to Olympic gold medals and Tours de France wins. It would be an exaggeration to say a new face in the Old Trafford directors’ box was a galvanising force but as regime change is coming, Manchester United could at least savour a shift in their fortunes. Wretched in the first half, revived in the second, they produced a comeback that was both spirited and timely: not least, perhaps, for Erik ten Hag, who had endured the Aston Villa fans’ taunts that he would be sacked and then oversaw his best win of the season in front of a new powerbroker.
Garnacho the architect of Manchester United’s most timely of revivals
Man United 3-2 Aston Villa: Alejandro Garnacho hit a brace and Rasmus Hojlund found the back of the net for the first time in over 1000 Premier League minutes as the hosts came from behind to win
FT: Manchester United 3-2 Aston Villa
Here is a line from Aston Villa manager Unai Emery to Amazon Prime: “It’s amazing, 39 points...
“On tonight, 60 minutes fantastic. Manchester United, when they score the first goal with the supporters here they came back with the atmosphere pushing them and they have very good players.”
FT: Manchester United 3-2 Aston Villa
When asked how United are going to build consistency following their victory, Fernandes said: “I don’t want to speak about that, because we have had so many post-match interviews saying ‘we are going to build it after this...’ and we didn’t so.
“But I said that many times, even when the season started we knew that our aims are higher than where we are at at the moment but we have to look game by game.
“Because we are not in a position to look at big things, we have to understand the reality we are and we have to go step-by-step because we have to understand that.
“First of all we need to get the basics right and after we are going to get the results and the goals and the performances.”
FT: Manchester United 3-2 Aston Villa
Fernandes added: “As I said, Rasmus hasn’t scored (for a while) but it doesn’t matter he scored today.
“The belief has to be there because you believe in each other. Sometimes you get to start to think ‘I’m not good enough to be here’ when things are not going well it doesn’t matter how confident you are or how brave you are, you always have that.
“But it’s the way that you fight to get over that and get results...”
FT: Manchester United 3-2 Aston Villa
Bruno Fernandes spoke to Amazon Prime, saying: “We know as a striker he needs to score goals and he is eager to do it and all we want is our strikers to have confidence enough to get more goals and he knows it is he is going to have pressure.
“He is playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world and he knows that playing for this club he will have a lot of attention.”
“We really need him to score goals like every striker in the team, not only them but in front we need them to be as confident as possible to have chances and score goals.”
FT: Manchester United 3-2 Aston Villa
When asked if Hojland was going to be withdrawn, before Rashford’s injury, Ten Hag said: “They worked so hard and one of the strikers had to come off, we wanted to bring a new energy and we saw that Rashford hurt himself - I think we created more and I am so pleased Rasmus Hojland scored.
“But it does not matter who scored, we had to win, and that’s about the team.”
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