“Have now made themselves more difficult to beat” – Mark Lawrenson delivers his prediction as Manchester United prepare to face Aston Villa

Mark Lawrenson believes Manchester United will cruise to victory this weekend over Aston Villa in the Premier League.

The Red Devils are unbeaten in their previous nine matches across all competitions and appear to be adjusting to manager Erik ten Hag's methods. Their recent good run has seen them go within a point of Newcastle United, who are currently fourth in the table.

United face an Aston Villa side on Sunday (4 November), who will have former Arsenal and PSG boss Unai Emery in charge for the first time. The Spaniard guided his Villarreal team to a Europa League final win over Manchester United in 2021 before a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League a year later.

However, their Premier League record against United is abysmal. They haven't beaten the 20-time champions of England at Villa Park since 1995 and have only won once against the Red Devils in 13 years.

Lawrenson told Paddy Power that he expects a 2-0 victory for the visitors. He explained:

"Villa capitulated at Newcastle last week and I don’t see them getting anything here. Manchester United have now made themselves more difficult to beat, they’re not conceding too many goals. I wouldn’t say they’re in sparking form or have turned the corner or anything but they’ll win this one."

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Erik ten Hag pleased with Manchester United's squad depth as grueling schedule continues

Following his team's 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad, Ten Hag conceded that his team had a number of injury issues in attack. However, he did praise the fringe members of his squad, who have slotted in nicely to the Dutchman's tactics.

Ten Hag admitted that Raphael Varane's injury is a real problem for his team but stated that the likes of Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire performed admirably. He said (as per Manchester United's official website):

“We have some problems in the frontline, with the injuries and illness for Antony, Anthony Martial and Jadon Sancho. But we have also players in the back and more youngsters coming so I'm happy that we can replace something. Lindelof is performing well in combination with Martinez."

"Then came Harry [Maguire], and he did well also. Varane, that is an injury, and it hurt us, because [of] also his leadership. But we still have three really good centre-backs, and that's good and also what we need. I'm happy that we have competition in many more positions. That's what we need, and also to cover all the games. So I'm happy.”