No doubt the pressure is back on Manchester United in the Premier League title race after Wednesday night’s results.
The Red Devils’ 1-0 defeat to Wigan means a win against Aston Villa is a must if they are to keep Manchester City at arm’s length in the title race. However, Alex McLeish’s men are in desperate need of three points to stave off the threat of relegation and won’t make life easy for United.
A quick look back at past results would suggest Sunday should be a stroll in the park for the Manchester side, with Villa winning just one of their last 32 league games against the Red Devils. They also have managed just one win at the Theatre of Dreams in the last 30 visits. However, Wigan had an equally dismal record against Sir Alex Ferguson’s men before Wednesday night and look what happened there.
Ferguson was livid with his players after their defeat at the DW Stadium and you’d expect a reaction from United, with the Scot suggesting he will bring back Paul Scholes after he sat out Wednesday’s game. The 37-year-old was at his masterful best as United brushed aside QPR on Easter Sunday. His experience, coupled with Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand’s, is likely to prove vital over the next five games, with Scholes’ presence likely to act as a calming influence for the younger players.
Along with Scholes, United will be looking towards Wayne Rooney to do the business for them, the England striker having scored nine goals in the last nine matches. As you might expect, United are a short price to win the game, with 1/4 being offered, while Villa are 11/1 and the draw is 5/1. As such, you might have to look elsewhere for a bit of value and Rooney to score first at 13/5 looks a good bet given he has broken the deadlock in five of the last six matches in which he has scored.
United should be comfortable winners and you can get them at 8/11 to win to nil, a likely scoreline given Villa’s troubles in front of goal as they have managed to score more than one goal only once in the last nine games.
No doubt Villa will make life awkward for United, getting plenty of men back behind the ball and packing the midfield, as has become manager Alex McLeish’s style. However, when you are looking for a win, this tactic perhaps isn’t the way to go about things and the best they can seemingly hope for is a draw, with 0-0 on offer at 14/1.
Many Villa fans will be nervously looking over their shoulders after a run of one win in 11 matches, leaving them just six points clear of the drop zone. McLeish’s appointment clearly hasn’t worked, the former Birmingham City boss failing to use the assets he has correctly. The Scot has had little money to spend but his biggest signing, Charles N’Zogbia, hasn’t done it for him so far.
The former Wigan man is one of four players returning to the Villa set up after Monday’s 1-1 draw with Stoke, with Carlos Cuellar, Ciaran Clark and Nathan Delfouneso also available.
Even with a few fresh faces in the team, it is going to take a minor miracle for Villa to get anything out of the game and United should be able to breathe a bit easier come Sunday night.
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