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By Greg Robertson
And while there is plenty going on the FA Cup, it’s given us all a breather in terms of focus on the Premiership. But a short gasp between two favourite ales, as here we have Manchester United at Old Trafford in the EPL, trying to march their way to another title - pushing the Wigan loss to the back of mind where it belongs - and dealing with visitor’s Aston villa.
We’ll bring you video highlights and all the action as it happens, so remember to refresh your browser occasionally to catch all the play. We’ll warn you with a ‘video coming’ and ‘video up’ when we’ve added to the video player.
NB: Video for this article has been removed in accordance with our right’s usage agreement after a period of time.
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LIVE COMMENTARY… FINAL SCORE Manchester United 4 – Aston Villa 0
It's all over - Man U win 4-0 thanks for coming. All video up.
93 mins: First time ball from Evans and Nani SCORES! Video up.
92 mins: Nani in the book for grabbing hold of Hutton.
+ 4 Minutes of added time
89 mins: Yet another raid from United has Villa chasing the ball... Nani away cuts it back to Berbatov and Lichaj sees the danger, slides in and saves a goal. Video up.
86 mins: Just starting to dribble away this one with united having it firmly in the kit bag which will have Sir Alex mighty chuffed no doubt.
81 mins: Given making saves left, right and centre.
79 mins: How Welbeck doesn't score is only in Given's abilit to keep it out though he didn't know much about it. Video up.
77 mins: Given caught out of the penalty box and questions whether he handled it but it's waved play on. 3-0, no huge United complains except from the stands. Replay shows he does go outside the box. Scholes off for Cleverley.
73 mins: Rooney gets a second! GOAL! He was just about to be subbed too... ball falls free on the edge and Rooney smashes it away. Video up. Berbatov on for Rooney.
71 mins: Agbonlahor with a bit of space after receiving from Heskey, sights the target, hits one with his right but it's bounced off the defence for a corner.
67 mins: Valencia with a great cross... Rooney... sitter... missed. Video up.
67 mins: Heskey's only been on a couple of minutes and makes an immediate nuisance of himself with a 12 -yard header that pushes de Gear to make a save. Video up.
64 mins: Big shout for a United penalty - from the corner there was a flick and it looked like it may have struck the arm of Villa's Nathan Baker. Video up, but no penalty.
63 mins: Valencia with the first real shot in anger of the second half but Collins blocks, only as far as Scholes who part duffs the effort. Clarke has gone down again... it may be his day after the head knock. Emile Heskey replaces him.
61 mins: Have just been mesmerised by Man United pushing the pill about... probing down the left, square.... lovely to watch as they push it about for a couple of minutes before Young makes way for Nani with time still to shine.
Nani getting prepped to come on...
56 mins: Villa getting into the game as Evra braves his way into a challenge and sets Rooney away who travels at speed - Evra still on ground holding his shoulder - and then Rooney does it again with a terrible pass. panning back, Evra still down.... he's up and walking with a wee grimace. Clark with a cut above his eye.
52 mins: Better from Villa as they make an insurgence but it breaks down on the edge of the box and United breaks away through Rooney. Rooney going through a bad patch as in the space of 4 minutes has given the ball away three times cold.
50 mins: Ouch, Young and Hutton both slide for the ball - Hutton gets a yellow and Young rolls around on the deck. No malice.
48 mins: Paul Scholes with a clumsy challenge and leaves the boot in against Agbonlahor. Yellow for the legend - Scholes that is.
46 mins: Geez amazing little vertical scissor-kick by Welbeck to control a long ball (video up soon) but his pass to put Rooney away had too much pep.
Players coming back out for the second half now... it's going with the script for the moment as Manchester United has a two goal cushion. Settle back? Don't think so.
That's HALFTIME _ United leads 2-0. ALL FIRST HALF VIDEO IS UP.
43 mins: Just a tad of frustration creeping int Old Trafford then BANG, GOAL! Welbeck was free on the back post and Carrick and Rooney combined well, Evra delivering a killer ball for Welbeck to slide in and score. Why Baker left that I will never know! Video up.
38 mins: Villa with a 3-on-2 but Agbonlahor just keeps carrying it until he trips up over it. Wasted and should have delivered after a couple of strides into the run.
35 mins: Some of these waves of United pressure are like Old Trafford tsunamis... with Villa doing some frenzied sandbagging to keep the tide at bay. It literally is wave after wave, raid after raid.
33 mins: Carrick just about beat the entire backline... Valencia nuts then receives back and whacks it in to Welbeck who gets the touch but Given reacts equally as well to push it away for a corner. Which came to nothing. Video up.
32 mins: Scholes sending a guided missile forward to try and seek out Rooney, but Baker's stud-lengths are enough to scrape it away to Given in the sticks.
29 mins: What technique from Scholes as he fires a screaming volley just wide. He's a volleying machine right now. Video up.
27 mins: Well, well, well... there's some fight in the Villa camp with Ireland doing well and then trying to bend it like a banana.... de Gea may... may, I say, have had it covered. Video up.
24 mins: Collins with a heroic block with Welboek controlling the ball with his stomach and then striking. Video up. Scholes then has a go straight into loving Given arms. Video up. Remember Villa Park boxing Day 2006? That volley... nearly.
23 mins: It's all United with Welbeck playing past Collins and getting the shot away, straight at Baker. from the corner. Rooney climes high to meet the front-post flick but couldn't climb high enough to head it down.
22 mins: Hutton again comes in and saves the day for Villa by getting in Welbeck's way again.
18 mins: Excellent play down the right for United, finds Rooney who works the space to his right and fires at goal with Given palming it away. Video up.
17 mins: Nathan Baker with an important block on Welbeck who arrived back post for a Rooney ball. Video up. United continues the offensive.
15 mins: Young finding plenty of space down the right at the moment and is looking dangerous - delivers another bending ball but it's battered away.
11 mins: Valencia with a great long run, trails it off to Scholes on the left hand corner of the penalty area on the overlap, he pulls the trigger with the left boot but it's blocked with bodies in the box.
7 mins: Penalty! Ashley young goes straight past Hutton pretty easily and Clark puts out his leg. Mark Hasley gave it but it looked a bit dodge. Video up. Rooney scores! Video up.
4 mins: Carrick and Rooney, one, two, three and back again - combine well - right through the guts of the Villa defence sets one up for the man who has scored 18 in the last 20 appearances but he blasts it right at Young's backside as he gets the touche in the way.
3 mins: Most possession down the United end in the early stages... Ol' Trafford faithful just starting to warm the tonsils up.... few nips later I'm sure, medicinal for the tonsils of course.
30 seconds: Weimann gets in behind after a terrific pass from Ireland and Weimann cracks it right at de Gea to give him a feeler. Video up.
We're underway.
Eerie silence at Old Trafford.... that just put things in perspective. Right, football time... no margin of error for Manchester United.
All very chirpy and chummy out their centre circle... 15 seconds to kick off and no one has put the boot in?
Evra is leading Manchester United today... Sir Alex is taking his spot and the handshakes are shaking.
Here are the official teams...
Man Utd: De Gea, Rafael Da Silva, Evans, Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Young, Rooney, Welbeck.
Subs: Amos, Jones, Berbatov, Giggs, Hernandez, Nani, Cleverley.
Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Baker, Lichaj, Bannan, Ireland, Clark, Gardner, Weimann, Agbonlahor.
Subs: Guzan, N'Zogbia, Delfouneso, Heskey, Cuellar, Johnson, Carruthers.
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
Best jingle of all time?... The Premier League that is as we have live pictures. It's matchday....
We are not far away from the start of the EPL match between man U and Villa... will be getting our pictures in a couple of minutes.
Kick off is not far away so in the meantime watch as Wigan upset United? Is something similar on the cards for today or are Sir Alex Ferguson’s merry men on their way to a merry English Premier League title?
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Probable teams
United: De Gea, Jones, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Valencia, Scholes, Carrick, Young; Rooney, Welbeck.
Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Baker, Lichaj; Bannan, Ireland, Gardner, N'Zogbia; Wiemann, Agbonlahor.
Referee: Mark Halsey.
Pregame banter
Aston Villa travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United with their Premier League status not yet confirmed, and with a record of just one win in their last thirty meetings against 'the Red Devils'.
Villa manager Alex McLeish played under United boss Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen, and the Birmingham side are currently six points above the drop zone with six games remaining.
United, meanwhile, are five points clear of neighbours Manchester City at the top of the table.
However, with the Premier League title in sight, United were beaten 1-0 away at Wigan Athletic to open the door of opportunity a little further for City.
In contrast, Villa drew 1-1 at Liverpool and followed that up with a 1-1 draw against Stoke City at Villa Park), to earn themselves two precious points.
Ahead of the game at Old Trafford, Villa will assess Stephen Warnock, who is nursing an ankle problem, and Chris Herd, who has a head injury.
Marc Albrighton is unlikely to feature, but Fabian Delph could be on the bench, while Ciaran Clark is fit after two months out with a knee injury.
Long term absentees include striker Darren Bent and captain Stilian Petrov.
It will be a ripper live, streaming forward with United players trying to notch that next title and keep Manchester City from barking down their door.
Alex McLeish, Aston Villa manager (on whether United's defeat to Wigan will make them a more dangerous prospect). "sometimes it can be, sometimes it can make the opposition apprehensive. You know maybe they'll be thinking about it so you can never tell but I know that because United have been in these positions so many times over the years and Sir Alex Ferguson has been down here for what seems about 50 years now, he knows that they've got to bounce back right away. One of the many things about growing up with a guy like Sir Alex was that when you get knocked down, you've got to get back up straight away."
Alex McLeish, Aston Villa manager (on Villa having won just one of the pair's last thirty meetings) "No I don't think they should ignore that, I think they should be disappointed about that and want to do something about it. So definitely a pretty not so good record. Wigan I don't think had beaten Manchester United at all in the Premier League, or lost every game and you know they put that statistic to bed the other night with a great victory. So we've got to take confidence from that."
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source: newshub archive
