Key events
Teams in full
Manchester United (4-2-3-1) Lammens; Dalot, Yoro, Maguire, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Amad, Fernandes, Cunha; Mbeumo.
Subs: Bayindir, Mazraoui, Heaven, Malacia, Ugarte, T Fletcher, Mount, Zirkzee, Sesko.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1) Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Onana, Barkley; Buendia, McGinn, Rogers; Watkins.
Subs: Bizot, Garcia, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen, Luiz, Elliott, Bailey, Abraham.
Referee Anthony Taylor.
Teams in brief: Villa
Unai Emery shakes up his midfield. John McGinn is back from the start, as mooted, and he’s joined by Ross Barkley, who usually gets only a cameo. At a guess, McGinn will be the no. 10 and Barkley the 8, with Amadou Onana as the 6.
Teams in brief: Man United
Michael Carrick makes two changes, which may be a record for his current stint. Benjamin Sesko reverts to the bench as Amad comes back in, so it looks as if Bryan Mbeumo will start down the middle, as he did for Carrick’s first few games. In defence, Diogo Dalot returns at right-back in place of Noussair Mazraoui.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone, happy Mother’s Day and welcome to a six-pointer. It’s third against fourth and, unlike the top two, Manchester United and Aston Villa are neck-and-neck, separated only by goal difference.
Villa have one more win but United have three more draws. United lost their last game, 2-1 at Newcastle, whereas Villa won theirs, 1-0 at Lille. United have had a ten-day break, while Villa, who have played ten more games this season, are back to the Thursday-Sunday grind – though if any manager thrives on that, it’s Unai Emery, the grandmaster of the Europa League.
When this fixture last took place, just before Christmas, it was a tale of two inside-lefts. Morgan Rogers scored for Villa, Matheus Cunha replied for United, Rogers did it again and then Cunha missed a sitter. Bruno Fernandes was forced off by a rare injury, which meant that United’s midfield went from middling (Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte) to makeshift (Ugarte and Lisandro Martinez, then Martinez and Jack Fletcher). The difference between the sides was Rogers’ wizardry, which put Villa ten points ahead of United. That gap has now been closed by Michael Carrick, who was Rogers’ manager and mentor at Middlesbrough.
United should be stronger today, with a settled midfield duo of Casemiro (suspended last time) and the revitalised Kobbie Mainoo. But then Villa could have John McGinn, their driving force, making his first start since a knee operation in January.
If Carrick’s new-manager bounce has been fading, he’s still got it at home, where he has won four games out of four. But Villa, the only English team to win in Europe this week, could be coming out of their slump. And both camps will have been cheered by Chelsea’s unexpected defeat last night.
My considered opinion is that it’s too close to call.