Manchester City will have to put the champagne back on ice after Aston Villa fell to a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
Despite losing to Chelsea on Saturday evening, the Citizens could have been crowned Premier League champions had Villa managed to pull off an unlikely win.
AFP
It seemed on the cards after Bertrand Traore gave the hosts the lead at Villa Park with a sensational finish, only for Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood and then Edinson Cavani to secure three precious points for United.
If United can beat both Leicester and Liverpool, then City will have the chance to win the title against Newcastle United on Friday at St James Park.
Although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will surely feel as though the Premier League is a foregone conclusion, they still have those huge games against teams vying for European glory and can effectively kill off the Reds’ Champions League dreams with a win on Thursday at Old Trafford.
For Villa, the sooner Jack Grealish returns the better. Without their talismanic captain, the hosts looked devoid of ideas in attack and it seems midtable is a fair reflection of their second season back in the top flight.
AFP
It all started so well when Bertrand Traore gave Villa the lead in the first half after great pressing by John McGinn in United’s half saw a turnover in possession. Douglas Luiz collected and showed great composure to slip the ball into Traore.
With his back to goal, the former Ajax striker flicked it past the weak challenge of Victor Lindelof to fire an unstoppable finish into the top corner past the despairing dive of Dean Henderson.
Had the result stayed as it was, it would have meant rivals City would have been crowned champions once again – in similar fashion to 2018 when a defeat to West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford gifted Pep Guardiola’s men the title.
Undoubtedly the tide turned when Luiz unnecessarily brought down Paul Pogba in the box, with Fernandes stepping up to score. The Portugal international now has 27 goals for the club in all competitions, the most by a midfield player for a Premier League club in a single campaign since Frank Lampard for Chelsea in 2009-10.
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Villa looked somewhat on the ropes by this point, with the surging Red Devils looking to press home their advantage.
It came when Mason Greenwood rolled Tyrone Mings expertly and fired past the dive of Emiliano Martinez at the near post to score his 16th Premier League goal for the club.
It now means he is the highest-scoring teenager in United’s Premier League history, overtaking Wayne Rooney in the process.
The job was far from done for United, who saw Harry Maguire limp off, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka making a fantastic recovery tackle to deny Ollie Watkins after Keinan Davies unselfishly set the England striker up.
AFP
However, the points were secured when Cavani came off the bench to show off his predatory instincts once again, nodding past Martinez to score his eighth goal in his last games.
The drama did not end there as Dean Smith’s afternoon went from bad to worse when Watkins was shown a second yellow card for diving after Dean Henderson charged at the striker in the box, but the referee determined there was no contact and showed him a second yellow.
Solskajer will sweat on the fitness of Maguire before the games against Leicester and Liverpool, with the United captain playing every minute of the previous 71 games in the Premier League since his debut in August 2019.
Yet the attention will turn to the Blue half of the city as they close in on another title.
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