Aston Villa faced off against Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier this afternoon hoping to pick up a surprise win on the road. Both teams fought tooth and nail in the first 45 minutes but were unable to make the breakthrough as they went into the half-time interval with a goalless scoreline.
Dean Smith’s men kept themselves in the game after the referee resumed play and managed to score a late goal courtesy of Kortney Hause’s excellent header in the 88th minute. However, Hause gave away a penalty soon after as he was caught handling the ball. Fortunately for him, Bruno Fernandes ended up missing his penalty as the contest finished 1-0 in favour of the West Midlands outfit.
Let’s take a look at how each Aston Villa player fared during the match against the Red Devils.
GK: Emiliano Martinez – 7.5/10
The Argentine keeper made some solid saves to restrict the Man United attackers from scoring during the 90 minutes. He will be quite pleased with the clean sheet today.
CB: Ezri Konsa – 7.5/10
Konsa was strong in the air and made a handful of important clearances on the defensive end of the field. He even pulled off a few crucial blocks to deny the opposition a goal.
CB: Kortney Hause – 8/10
Besides giving away a late penalty, Hause kept things solid at the back. He ended up winning the game for the Villans with a great header in the 88th minute.
CB: Tyrone Mings – 7/10
The English centre-back secured the ball back quite a few times for his team. He also didn’t take too many chances with his clearances.
RM: Matty Cash – 7/10
He performed his defensive duties quite well and was lively at times in the Man United half. Smith will be happy with his performance today.
CM: John McGinn – 6/10
McGinn works his socks off in midfield but struggled to get a foothold in the game. His influence in the final third was minimal during the game.
CM: Jacob Ramsey – 6/10
He got stuck in with a couple of strong tackles but offered very little in the opponent’s half. He got replaced in the 85th minute.
CM: Douglas Luiz – 8/10
The Brazilian midfield ace won the ball back on a few occasions and managed to engineer some decent chances for his teammates to score. He even picked up an assist for setting up Hause’s match-winner.
LM: Matt Targett – 6.5/10
He didn’t do much wrong when defending inside his half. However, Targett failed to give a good account of himself in the final third.
ST: Danny Ings – 6/10
The ex-Liverpool forward tried his best to help his teammates out on the field but never got a sniff at goal.
ST: Ollie Watkins – 7/10
Watkins caused a few headaches for the Man United defenders but could not convert any of his chances throughout the game.
Substitutes:
CAM: Emiliano Buendia – 6.5/10
He created one good chance after coming off the bench.
ST: Cameron Archer – N/A
Archer hardly had any time to make an impact.
