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There is simply no stopping this Aston Villa machine, cylinders pumping, exclusively handcrafted by Unai Emery, the manager who reacted to Morgan Rogers’ winning goal against Manchester United by launching his jacket into the night sky. “Birmingham, are you listening?” came the chorus from the home support but this was another victory with wider implications.
For now Villa, third and three points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, are firmly in the title race, two more brilliant Rogers goals earning a 10th straight win in all competitions and rendering Matheus Cunha’s well-taken equaliser nothing more than a consolation. A frustrating defeat for Ruben Amorim was compounded by his captain, Bruno Fernandes, being forced off through injury at half-time.
This was always likely to be a high-octane occasion and within two and a half minutes Cunha sent a rasping first-time effort narrowly wide of Emiliano Martínez’s left post. Villa’s first opening fell to Ollie Watkins but after chopping inside Leny Yoro his delayed thinking allowed Ayden Heaven to intervene.
The chances were totting up, even inside the opening eight minutes. After Youri Tielemans pinched possession from Manuel Ugarte, John McGinn forced a save from Senne Lammens and then the United goalkeeper repelled Watkins from the rebound. From the subsequent corner Ian Maatsen’s throttled volley whistled a whisker wide, via Rogers’ right heel.
It served as a trailer for what was to come. Benjamin Sesko saw a couple of big chances come and go inside a minute; Martínez spread his legs to thwart the United striker for the first and for the other his touch after rounding the Villa goalkeeper was too clunky. There were plenty of endearing moments for a fervent Villa crowd to get behind. On the half-hour McGinn emerged from a cul-de-sac of three white United shirts with the ball and earlier Tielemans charged into Yoro as Emery’s side swarmed in numbers. At a corner there was some pantomime grappling between Yoro and Martínez for good measure. Amid all that, though, Rogers served Yoro and United notice.
It was the 33rd minute when Rogers drove inside Yoro, opened up his body and, encouraged by the locals to take aim, sent a shot at goal. As it happened, it was a little tame and easy for Lammens to claim. That was not the case approaching the half-time interval, when Rogers dispatched a superb curling strike into the far corner of the United goal. This time Lammens swivelled his head only to confirm the ball had rippled his net. Rogers had improbably kept McGinn’s slightly overcooked pass in play on the left touchline and then roamed inside, glancing up briefly to pick his spot. The “ref cam” replays suggested Michael Oliver had arguably the best view in the house.
It was the kind of strike worthy of winning any game but a couple of minutes later, in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, Cunha was pretending to surf in front of the Holte End after restoring parity. Patrick Dorgu dispossessed a dallying Matty Cash and Cunha, involved in almost all of United’s good work, seized on the loose ball. Ezri Konsa pointed Martínez towards the top corner, knowing what was coming, but Cunha’s superb finish gave the Villa goalkeeper no chance.
United were bright, though Amorim had to change things at the interval with Fernandes forced off and Lisandro Martínez entering in his place, partnering Ugarte at the base of midfield. Add Fernandes to Amorim’s list of absent senior players, with three at the Africa Cup of Nations, though the United captain was able to walk down the touchline and take a seat among the United substitutes for the second half. Kobbie Mainoo was missing altogether here owing to a calf injury, Amorim said, sustained at training on Saturday. “To have this problem is a reminder that we need to focus on everything that we can control and then leave the rest to destiny,” Amorim said.
Lisandro Martínez smacked the advertising hoardings with a shot from 20 yards after pickpocketing the near-faultless Boubacar Kamara and United did not seem too disrupted. But a minute later Villa and Rogers had struck again. Tielemans kept the ball alive close to the byline and hooked a cross towards Watkins. The Villa striker could not trap the ball but Rogers was alert and took over the baton. Again, Rogers drifted inside Yoro and, again, he picked out the far corner.
Cunha missed a golden opportunity to equalise midway through the second half. When he read Dorgu’s cross from the left, time appeared to freeze for a split-second and the away end were seemingly primed to celebrate. But, perhaps spooked by the time and space afforded to him a few yards from goal by Konsa and Victor Lindelöf, the former United centre-back making his second Premier League start for Villa, he failed to make clean contact and sent his header off target.
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