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Tom Cleverley celebrates after scoring Manchester United’s third goal
Manchester United recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over Aston Villa to end a run of four league games without a win. In what was a welcome return to form for United, they claimed their first Premier League win since they beat Arsenal over a month ago.
After a bright start from Villa, it was United who went ahead on 15 minutes as Welbeck finished from close range after Adnan Januzaj’s header had cannoned back off the post. Just minutes later and Welbeck was on hand to convert his second as he slid home to meet Antonio Valencia’s cross.
The scoring was completed not long into the second half, and it was another well-worked team goal as Tom Cleverley exchanged passes with Wayne Rooney before firing into the Villa net.
Key Stats
Aston Villa will consider themselves unlucky not to have scored having had 17 attempts on goal, however, they simply lacked the clinical touch. While the visitors with just 14 attempts in total, had 5 attempts on target, scoring 3 goals.
The Red Devils were also dominant in possession as they recorded a 55% share of the ball. The ability to retain control is the main reason behind this supremacy, with 417 passes to their name, the away side registered a pass completion ratio of 84%. This compares to the 78% accuracy of the Villans.
Man of the Match
Tom Cleverley earned today’s Man of the Match award after scoring his first goal of the season. The England international came to life in the second half of the match putting in another impressive performance that will go some way to silencing his critics.
The one concern following this match will be his creative ability. Having completed 75 of his 80 attempted passes he failed to make a single key pass throughout 90 minutes. This aspect of his game will need to improve if he wishes to establish himself as a key player at the club.
Cleverley finished the match with a Performance Score of 78 points, nine ahead of his closest competitor, Danny Welbeck.
Performance Score
The home side started brightly in the first 10 minutes, testing the United defence with several shots at goal. During this opening phase the majority of football was played in the visitors half, as Villa accumulated a performance score of 52 points compared to the 38 of the Red Devils.
However, Danny Welbeck’s opening goal signalled an impressive turnaround from the away side as their performance dramatically improved. From this moment onwards United were far superior to Villa, with a second Welbeck strike following soon after.
As the two sides settled down during the latter stages of the first half Aston Villa gradually improved, as United continued to impress. At the break the away side recorded a score of 212 points as Villa trailed behind with 44.
This pattern continued in the early period of the second half, with Villa threatening once again in the opening few minutes. However, in similar fashion to the first 45 minutes, United responded with a third goal. This time Tom Cleverley found the back of the net, guaranteeing three points for the travelling team.
Despite experiencing an obvious dip in form following this strike, Villa gradually improved, once again, as they continued to threaten in front of goal.
The home side were never really able to make an impression of the match and at the final whistle they lagged behind their opponent’s Performance Score total of 396, with a score of minus five points.
Key Observations
David Moyes will be elated with his side’s wing play in this match as Antonio Valencia and Adnan Januzaj caused huge problems for Villa on their left-side. The link-up play between Valencia and Rafael on the right-hand side of the pitch posed a huge threat throughout 90 minutes.
With four completed take-ons and 9 attempted crosses, the pair were a huge factor behind this victory. All three of United’s goals came from the right hand side and this testament to the pair’s combined performance.
Danny Welbeck took full advantage of Robin van Persie’s recent injury by scoring two goals on his return to the Manchester United starting line-up. However, having had the luxury of six chances, he should have perhaps recorded his first ever career hat-trick. Despite this the Englishman put in a fantastic shift and his contribution in front goal gave the club some much needed momentum.
Furthermore, the United centre-back partnership of Jonny Evans and Phil Jones remains unbeaten this season. Jones won all five of his tackles, won three headers and made four interceptions and 13 clearances, while Evans contributed with two blocks and seven clearances. With these two players at the back, Aston Villa were limited to snap shot chances and were therefore unable to score.
With this in mind, Christian Benteke’s poor run of form has still not come to an end. The Belgian striker has now failed to score in his previous 10 appearances and with just once chance to his name in this fixture he never really looked like finding the back of the net. His performances will certainly worry Paul Lambert. Despite creating chances without his presence on the pitch, they are a much stronger side when he is playing at the top of his game.
