Merry Christmas, Manchester United family! We are in the midst of the festive period and slowly getting ready for the Boxing Day football bonanza, as the matches will be coming quicker than ever.
Among those matches will be Manchester United’s Tuesday night clash with Aston Villa, the second best Premier League team in 2023 in terms of points won. Here is what you need to know ahead of the match.
Team News
Man United will be without some of the players that have been out for a while. The list includes Amad Diallo, Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Tyrell Malacia, Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho, but the good news are that Christian Eriksen was able to get back on the pitch in last Saturday’s match. This could mean we could see the Danish midfielder in the starting lineup on Boxing Day.
As for Aston Villa, Matty Cash picked up his fifth yellow card against Sheffield United and will not be available, while Boubacar Kamara is already suspended. It remains to be seen whether Pau Torres will be available for this one, after getting a knock. Those who are certainly out are Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings with knee injuroes, Bertrand Traore with a muscle problem, Youri Tielemans (calf) and Robin Olsen (knock).
Form Guide
Erik Ten Hag and his players are waiting for the Boxing Day encounter in a not-so-festive mood, as the Red Devils are in poor form indeed. After beating Chelsea, they went on a run of four matches without a win and also without scoring. Defeats at Old Trafford to Bournemouth (0-3) and Bayern Munich (0-1) were painful for different reasons, while the 0-0 draw at Anfield against Liverpool sent a glimmer of hope. Yet, the last match United played, against West Ham in London (2-0 loss), offered further proof how far this Man United are from where they are expected to be in terms of not only results, but also style and quality of play.
While Man United lost 13 mathes up until Christmas in all competitions this season, their worst tally since 1931, Unai Emery’s side has been unbeaten since 5 November. It was then that Nottingham Forest surprised them and that remains Villa’s only loss since the start of October. Since then, Aston Villa have seven wins and three draws, one of those three including a 1-1 against Bosnian side Zrinjski in the Conference League, which did not hurt them much. A 1-0 win against Arsenal was a real showcase of all of Villa’s qualities and in their last two matches, they defeated Brentford 2-1, before getting a 1-1 draw at home against Sheffield United. Still, Villa are comfortably in the Champions League positions and close to the very top of the Premier League standings.
Predicted Outcome
Considering everything, this will be a really tough match for both sides. We predict Manchester United will get a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa, finally breaking the goalscoring drought. However, with Emery’s side enjoying playing the ‘big six’ sides (beating Man City this season in the process), they could get back home from Manchester undefeated.
Leave a Reply