Premier League 2020-21: Aston Villa 1-3 Manchester United: 3 key takeaways from the match

Manchester United came from behind yet again to beat Aston Villa 1-3 at Villa Park in their Premier League match today. It was United’s 10th come-from-behind win in the league this season so far, and they remain at the 2nd spot in the table with 70 points from 34 matches.

The club's official Twitter account lauded their comeback win:

🔟 comeback wins in the @PremierLeague this season for #MUFC. A new record.Now 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 is what we call United DNA 🧬 pic.twitter.com/WxpjcjsAC8

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 9, 2021

Villa, on the other hand, remain in 11th position with 48 points from the same number of matches. Manchester City still lead the league table with 80 points from 35 matches and would need another win to ensure the title.

On that note, we would like to take a look at the 3 takeaways from today’s match:

#1 United dominated the first half, but Villa managed to score:

Quite expectedly, United were the dominant team in the first half. They played with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Paul Pogba starting as the left winger, and Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford swapping positions often.

Bruno Fernandes was in his element right from the beginning and created some chances for United too. Luke Shaw made an early driving run and struck a fierce shot on target, which was parried by Martinez. There were other shots attempted by Rashford, Maguire and Greenwood as well.

However, United failed to capitalize on their dominance, and it was Aston Villa who scored in the 24th minute against the run of play.

Bertrand Traore got the ball inside the United penalty box and beat Henderson with a powerful shot. Victor Lindelof failed to mark Traore properly, as Villa led at half-time, and City seemed to have secured their 7th Premier League title.

#2 United went all out in the second half and were rewarded soon:

United started the second half with strong intent and threw all their players into the opposition half. They were soon rewarded as Pogba was fouled quite unnecessarily from behind by Douglas Luiz inside the Villa penalty box.

Fernandes made no mistake from the spot and scored his 27th goal of the season in the process.

United continued to push through the inside-right channel, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s pass found Greenwood inside the box. The 19- year old English forward turned quickly and surprised the Villa goalkeeper with his left-footer. It was his 11th goal of the season across all competitions.

Those two goals came in the space of four minutes, and Villa never really recovered from the shock thereafter.

#3 United continued to attack through the right, as Pogba put up a spirited show:

United tormented Villa through the right flank and the inside-right channel in the second half. They launched quite a few counter-attacks down the right flank as the likes of Rashford, Wan-Bissaka and Pogba found enough space in the opposition half.

Wan-Bissaka made quite a few overlapping runs and was quite effective with his tackles and interceptions while defending.

However, it was Pogba who stole the show for United in the midfield. He dropped down quite frequently to the middle third to collect balls, kept exchanging short passes with his teammates, and made some runs into the opposition penalty box.

Pogba played two key passes and a few long balls, but he was constantly probing the Aston Villa defense with his short, sharp passing and off-the-ball runs. The stats don't tell the whole story of Pogba's effectiveness in this game, especially in the second half.

Moreover, Edinson Cavani replaced Greenwood in the second half, and scored yet another goal with his head after receiving an inch-perfect cross from Rashford. It was the Uruguayan’s 15th goal of the season.

That goal meant that United left the ground as deserving winners, and City would have to wait until their next match at least to secure the league title.