Manchester United’s final Premier League outing before Christmas is a trip to face an Aston Villa side on an impressive winning run.
The Midlanders made it nine victories in a row, in all competitions, by coming from behind to beat West Ham United 3-2 last weekend.
Unai Emery’s side have powered up to third in the table and a 2-1 home triumph over leaders Arsenal in their last game at Villa Park highlighted their quality.
United are unbeaten on the road, though, since losing to Brentford in September,
and will be looking to maintain an overall excellent record against the Villans.
As already mentioned, Villa are on an amazing run of form, making it hard to believe they failed to score in their opening four games of the season.
The hosts have lost only one of their last 26 matches at Villa Park, the 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in late August.
However, a very similar stat is the fact they have only gained three points in one of their last 26 league meetings with the Reds, with that coming in Emery’s opening match in charge, back in November 2022.
While Ruben Amorim’s men have dropped points recently, we have only lost one of our last 10 games, the 1-0 reverse to Everton at Old Trafford.
After losing our first Premier League meeting with Villa, we have racked up an extraordinary record against them.
They have only won another four of the following 59 top-flight clashes, with United emerging victorious in 41 of those.
Indeed, we have only beaten one opponent more in the division, since its inception in 1992, with Everton overcome on 42 separate occasions.
ROTATION TIME
The Reds welcomed Benjamin Sesko back into the fold against Bournemouth, with the Slovenia striker coming off the bench in the 4-4 draw.
Noussair Mazraoui was absent after his call-up for the Africa Cup of Nations, with Amad and Bryan Mbeumo now joining him in Morocco for the tournament, which kicks off on Sunday.
Casemiro is suspended for Sunday, after being booked against the Cherries, while Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire remained out due to injury.
Villa will hope Emiliano Martinez, Pau Torres and Ross Barkley can be available but Tyrone Mings is unlikely to recover from a thigh problem. Winger Jadon Sancho is ineligible due to the fact he is on loan from the Reds.
AWAY FORM
Manchester United hasn’t won at Old Trafford since October 25, a 4-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion which featured a brace from AFCON-bound Bryan Mbeumo.
Since then, the Reds have suffered an embarrassing defeat to Everton and managed only draws against West Ham and Bournemouth.
However, as Amorim and co. prepare to go to Villa Park, they can take some confidence in their recent away record. Three wins and two draws in their last five trips away from Old Trafford have helped buoy United over the past month or so, adding to their push up the table and showcasing some much-needed fighting spirit on the road that was not present last season.
This trip is much more daunting, coming against a Villa side that has developed a habit of winning close contests.
