Preview: Manchester United vs. Aston Villa
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 29th March
12:45 KO (BST)
Old Trafford, Manchester
United (7th)
“I’ve got to say, I’m more driven to succeed than ever because I want the team to turn around and I want to change the position we’re in just now.” -David Moyes. Not even worth an unflattering put-down, is it?
Starting XI from: David de Gea, Anders Lindegaard; Rafael da Silva, Phil Jones, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Alex Buttner, Patrice Evra; Antonio Valencia, Adnan Januzaj, Ashley Young, Juan Mata, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa; Danny Welbeck, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez.
Doubts: Nani (hamstring)
Unavailable: Chris Smalling (hamstring), Jonny Evans (calf), Robin Van Persie (knee)
Top scorers: Robin Van Persie (11), Wayne Rooney (13)
Most assists: Wayne Rooney (10)
PL form: D W W L W L
Home record v Aston Villa: P78 W51 D16 L11
Aston Villa (12th)
“I was up there the other night to watch them against Man City. To be fair to them, City were fantastic. They still have some great, great players there. It’s not as if they have become poor players overnight.” Paul Lambert speaking to avfc.co.uk
Starting XI from: Brad Guzan, Shay Given, Jed Steer; Nathan Baker, Joseph Bennett, Ryan Bertrand, Ciaran Clark, Janoi Donacien, Matthew Lowton, Jores Okore, Antonion Luna, Ron Vlaar; Marc Albrighton, Leandro Bacuna, Fabian Delph, Gary Gardner, Chris Herd, Daniel Johnson, Yacouba Sylla, Aleksandar Tonev, Ashley Westwood; Gabriel Agbonlahor, Christian Benteke, Nicklas Helenius, Grant Holt, Libor Kozak, Callum Robinson, Andreas Weimann.
Doubts: Karim El Ahmadi (thigh)
Unavailable: n/a
Top scorer: Christian Benteke (11)
Most assists: Gabriel Agbonlahor (5)
PL form: L D L W W L
Previous league meetings
Villa 0-3 United (15-12-13)
United 3-0 Villa (22-04-13)
Villa 2-3 United (10-11-12)
United 4-0 Villa (15-04-12)
Villa 0-1 United (03-12-11)
United 3-1 Villa (01-02-11)
Officials
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: S Child, H Lennard
Fourth Official: C Pawson
Predictions
Manchester United 2-1 Aston Villa