Will Manchester United celebrate their 300th PL away win?
Saturday’s English Premier League evening match is all about revenge. Last Monday, the teams faced each other in the FA Cup, and on Saturday evening, with home advantage swapped, they will be competing for important points in the league. Aston Villa and Manchester United will meet at Villa Park
Ralf Rangnick was pleased with a narrow victory in the cup, which will also be necessary on Saturday to finally bring some peace to the Red Devils. The Red Devils’ performances have been too erratic so far this season. Aston Villa are still lacking consistency, but have improved considerably under Steven Gerrard in recent weeks.
At first glance, many fans would probably see the visitors as clear favourites. This opinion is not shared by the bookmakers and betting odds of well over 2.00 are offered for the visitors in Saturday night’s Premier League match between Aston Villa and Manchester United. The match kicks off at 18:30.
Aston Villa – Statistics & current form
As an active player, Steven Gerrard has celebrated ten victories against the Red Devils in the English Premier League. No other player has celebrated more victories, only Nicolas Anelka, John Terry and Petr Cech also have ten wins. Now he faces his long-time rival in the league for the first time as a coach. The prospects of success are not necessarily good, as only one of the last 18 PL coaches has won his first game against the Red Devils.
Remis? Not a good idea
As Villa coach, Steven Gerrard has played eight games so far and has a completely even record of four wins and four defeats. Generally speaking, the Villians have not had a habit of splitting points in recent months. Only one league match this season ended in a draw, in the other games it was always win or lose. In the meantime, the series of games without a draw has grown to 16, with six victories and ten defeats.
Accordingly, in the time before Gerrard there were only two wins and six defeats. A further development can therefore be seen, which is also clearly visible in terms of play. With the exception of the defeat against Brentford, Aston Villa have so far only conceded defeat against the top teams (Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Brentford, cup match against Manchester United). These statistics as well as the “winless streak” against the Red Devils speak in favour of betting on the visitors for Aston Villa vs. Manchester United.
Coutinho and Digne strengthen the club
After last year’s strong season, the current 14th place in the table is far from satisfactory. Rather, the club would like to orientate itself towards international starting positions again sooner or later. To this end, Aston Villa have announced two big-ticket transfers in recent days. On the one hand, Philippe Coutinho is returning to the Premier League, and on the other, Lucas Digne, a sought-after left-back, was signed from Everton. The duo will most likely make their debut for Aston Villa on Saturday night. The home side’s squad definitely has the quality to establish itself in the top half of the table.
Gerrard will be without ex-Leverkusenian Leon Bailey (injury) and Bertrand Traore (Africa Cup) on Saturday. However, a look at the expected line-up shows that these absences can be compensated very well.
Predicted line-up of Aston Villa:
Martinez – Digne, Mings, Konsa, Cash – Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Coutinho – Buendia, Ings, Watkins
Last matches played by Aston Villa:
FA Cup
01/10 2022 – Manchester United 1 – 0 Aston Villa
Premier League
01/02 2022 – Brentford 2 – 1 Aston Villa
12/26 2021 – Aston Villa 1 – 3 Chelsea London
12/14 2021 – Norwich 0 – 2 Aston Villa
12/11 2021 – Liverpool FC 1 – 0 Aston Villa
Manchester United – Statistics & current form
Not satisfied with the ranking are also the supporters of the Red Devils. Cristiano Ronaldo’s sensational return was supposed to set their sights on the title, but currently Manchester United are a whopping 22 points behind city rivals Manchester City. It doesn’t take a prophet to realise that the Red Devils are definitely not going to win the title this season.
CR7 contradicts media reports
With the signing of Ralf Rangnick, a new wind is now blowing in rugged Manchester. The media quickly stirred up trouble and wanted to accuse CR7 of thoughts of leaving, as he allegedly cannot cope with the German’s style. This week, the superstar broke his silence and showed himself convinced of the new coach. However, he also underlined that Rangnick changed some things and that this takes time. The Portuguese has already noticed slight progress in individual areas, although he naturally describes seventh place in the table as sobering.
The services of the veteran are indispensable despite his 36 years. Now he is guesting at his favourite opponent, because against Aston Villa Cristiano Ronaldo has already collected eleven scorer points in nine Premier League games (eight goals, three assists). He has no better statistics against any other team in the English football top flight.
300th away win in PL history
Should the team around CR7 celebrate the important away win on Saturday, the team would remain within striking distance of the Champions League starting positions. In addition, the players would be sure of an entry in the history book, because the next away win in the Premier League will be the 300th triumph. A mark that no team has ever reached before. And given that Manchester United have won 37 PL games against the Villians (a record), 17 of them away from home (also a record), this tip is absolutely justified on Saturday’s clash between Manchester United and Aston Villa.
In terms of personnel, the current Africa Cup has of course also had an impact on the Red Devils. Eric Bailly is therefore not available, Harry Maguire and Paul Pogba are also absent due to injury.
Predicted line-up of Manchester United:
De Gea – Shaw, Varane, Lindelöf, Wan-Bissaka – Sancho, McTominay, Matic, Greenwood – Ronaldo, Cavani
Last matches played by Manchester United:
FA Cup
01/10 2022 – Manchester United 1 – 0 Aston Villa
Premier League
01/03 2022 – Manchester United 0 – 1 Wolverhampton
12/30 2021 – Manchester United 3 – 1 Burnley
12/27 2021 – Newcastle United 1 – 1 Manchester United
12/11 2021 – Norwich 0 – 1 Manchester United
Aston Villa – Manchester United Direct Comparison / H2H Record
Just a few days ago, Steven Gerrard’s team suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford in the FA Cup. Now the Birmingham eleven hopes for revenge, the omens are anything but good. In Aston Villa’s last 22 league home games against the Red Devils, they have not managed a single home win.
There have been seven draws and 15 defeats. Aston Villa’s last success came in August 1995 – a negative record, no team has waited longer in English football for a home win against a special team.
Aston Villa – Manchester United Tip
The cup match last Monday can certainly be used as a yardstick for Saturday’s league game. Both teams did without a big rotation and operated almost in their best line-up. The home side’s victory was well deserved and with the return of Villa specialist Cristiano Ronaldo, the chances of a repeat of their success are very good. We were thoroughly surprised to see such high odds being offered between Aston Villa and Manchester United to predict another Red Devils win.
The Villians have certainly taken a step forward under Steven Gerrard, adding quality with Coutinho and Digne. However, it cannot be denied that Aston Villa have always lost out to the top teams by a narrow margin. In addition, the direct comparison is catastrophic from the home side’s point of view. All in all, the prediction for Aston Villa against Manchester United is therefore very interesting.
