Aston Villa 0-3 Manchester United: Key Stats and Player Ratings

Aston Villa

Brad Guzan (-30): Conceded three from five Manchester United shots on target.

Matthew Lowton (-29): Contributed seven clearances to the cause.

Ciran Clark (-14): Despite Villa conceding three and defending for long period, Clark only made two clearances and failed to make a tackle.

Nathan Baker (-36): Far from dominant in the air, losing four of the seven headed duels that he went up for.

Antonio Luna (-20): A difficult afternoon for Luna, who was found wanting defensively. All six of United’s key passes came from Luna’s left hand side as he struggled to get to grips with Valencia.

Ashley Westwood (11): Made more passes (51) than any other Aston Villa player.

Karim El Ahmadi (58): Put himself about with five tackles and two fouls, whilst also notching a 92% pass accuracy.

Sylla (-9): Committed as many fouls (3) as he did tackles (1), clearances (1) and interceptions (1) combined.

Marc Albrighton (43): Peppered the United box with crosses, putting 11 balls into the box

Christian Benteke (-1): Provided an outlet with five headed duels won from seven contested, but looked off the pace otherwise. Made two key passes in the first four minutes as Villa started well, but was well marshalled by Phil Jones for the rest of the game.

Gabriel Agbonlahor (28): Saw two of his three shots on goal blocked, with the third saved by David De Gea.

Substitutes:

Andi Weimann (-5): Had little impact, coming on with the game long beyond Villa

Kozak (1): Made five passes in his 12 minute cameo.

Leandro Bacuna (0): Only on for five minutes, but made 6/6 passes.

Manchester United:

David de Gea (39): Booked for some handbags with Agbonlahor, but tested little

Rafael (23): Allowed to bomb on from full back, putting three crosses into the Villa box.

Phil Jones (62): A rock in defence, Jones he won five tackles, more than any United player.

Jonny Evans (21): Made 48 of 54 attempted passes.

Patrice Evra (12): Made four interceptions as he succesfully snuffed out Villa’s right hand side.

Antonio Valencia (42): Provided a great ball for Welbeck’s second goal and put six crosses in, three of which found a United player.

Ryan Giggs (8): Pre-match fears over the mobility of a Giggs/Cleverley midfield proved unfounded as Villa provided little challenge, and Giggs contributed three interceptions.

Tom Cleverley (78): Made 75 of 80 attempted passes, an accuracy of 94%. Whilst many of these were either sideways or in his own half, he kept possession well and popped up with a rare goal at the other end.

Adan Januzaj (-1): A quiet afternoon for the wide man, who only made 11 passes in his 68 minutes on the pitch – an average of one every 6 minutes

Wayne Rooney (8): Took two shots on goal, both off target, but provided the assist for the third goal

Danny Welbeck (69): Surprised everyone with two goals in two minutes, and also made a good run to create the space for Cleverley to score United’s third, as he impressed on a rare start up front.

Substitutes:

Darren Fletcher (0): Great to see him back on the pitch after a long illness, Fletcher made 18 of his 22 attempted passes.

Ashley Young (9): Had little impact in an anonymous cameo against his old side.

Wilfried Zaha (-2): Only on for a few minutes, but managed to complete a take on and give the ball away twice.