Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester United

Rogers (45′, 57′)     Cunha (45+3′)

Morgan Rogers continued his sensational individual form as Aston Villa secured a 10th consecutive win in all competitions, edging out Manchester United at Villa Park.

Despite Unai Emery’s side struggling to find their usual rhythm, Rogers provided the clinical edge. On the stroke of halftime, the Englishman cut inside to bend a curling effort into the far corner.

The visitors briefly found a route back into the game when Matheus Cunha pounced on a Matty Cash blunder to level the scores, but the level score was short-lived. Rogers isolated Leny Yoro for the second time in the match moments later, mirroring his first-half strike with a nearly identical curled finish over Senne Lammens. The brace takes Rogers’ tally to six goals in his last six league appearances.

In the opposing dugout, the pressure intensified for Ruben Amorim. Already hampered by a depleted squad, his plans were thrown into further disarray when Kobbie Mainoo withdrew with a calf injury during the warm-up.

The misery was compounded just before the break when talisman Bruno Fernandes pulled up with a suspected hamstring tear. The withdrawal of the Portuguese star is worrying for his manager, whose side is looking perilously thin heading into the festive period.

Victory extends Villa’s grasp on third place to 7 points over nearest rivals Chelsea, for United, they slip to two wins in eight games, in what has been an inconsistent run for Ruben Amorim’s side.

Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen (Digne 75′) Kamara (Bogarde 88′) Onana (Buendia 84′) McGinn (Guessand 84′) Tielemans, Rogers, Watkins (Malen 75′)

Manchester United: Lammens, Yoro (Lacey 84′) Heaven, Shaw, Dalot, Ugarte (Zirkzee 73′) Fernandes (Martinez 46′)  Dorgu, Mount, Cunha, Sesko (Fletcher 73′)