Scott McTominay scored a late winner to boost Manchester United’s top-four hopes as they earned a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa.
Erik ten Hag’s side went into the game off the back of back-to-back Premier League victories and started the better at Villa Park. They went in front on 17 minutes and it was that man Rasmus Hojlund once again, as he fired home Harry Maguire’s knockdown for his fifth goal in five top-flight matches.
After failing to score in his first 14 Premier League appearances, Hojlund netted his first top-flight goal against Villa on Boxing Day. The floodgates have since opened with confidence brimming through him. Ahead of United’s trip to Villa Park, Hojlund had scored in four successive league matches.
The Denmark international’s hot streak continued at Villa Park as he gave United the lead within the opening quarter of the match. As he has been in the past couple of weeks, Hojlund was in the right place at the right time to prod home Maguire’s knockdown for his 11th of the season.
Meanwhile, it proved to be a challenging start to life at United for Onana. Regardless, he is beginning to show why United coughed out £47.5million for him last summer. The Cameroon international didn’t manage to keep a second successive clean sheet, but United could have drawn or even lost the game without him.
He was called into action almost immediately after United opened the scoring. In the 22nd minute, John McGinn’s powerful long-range effort was palmed away from danger by Onana. Moments later, Onana was quick off his line to deny Ollie Watkins, who had been played through on goal.
Early into the second-half, Onana was forced to stop another Watkins effort as the United ‘keeper stood firm to block from close-range. However, Onana was finally beaten in the 66th minute as Luiz steered into the top corner after Clement Lenglet’s strike was well kept out.
With the game looking like it was heading for a draw, second-half substitute McTominay saved the day for United in the 86th minute. Diogo Dalot’s delicious cross was met by McTominay, who leapt above his marker to head beyond Emiliano Martinez and spark delirium among the travelling faithful.
The win for United moves them to within six points of fourth-place Tottenham in the race for the Champions League. Ten Hag’s men are starting to build some real momentum ahead of the run and face Luton on the road in their next top-flight encounter on Sunday, February 18.
As for Villa, they remain fifth but were denied the chance to move back into the top-four. After last weekend’s 5-0 thumping at Sheffield United, Emery would have been hoping to follow it up but it’s now back-to-back home losses for the West Midlands side.