Shot-shy Manchester United hold Aston Villa to dull goalless draw
It was time to re-focus on the league after distinctly contrasting European nights in midweek, and having been brought off at HT against Porto, Marcus Rashford showed an early spark with a venomous strike that Emiliano Martínez dealt with.
Morgan Rogers then struck wide but there was a blow for the Villans, as Ezri Konsa was forced off injured in the 11th minute. While it was far from their quickest start to a game, that didn’t impact them too much with Diego Carlos coming in and making a good recovery run to halt Rasmus Højlund.
Both teams struggled to create clear-cut opportunities in a slow half with Jaden Philogene smashing his attempt from range marginally wide. The hosts had the more promising openings of the two teams with Jonny Evans blocking Youri Tielemans’ shot before Leon Bailey made a complete mess of his effort from Lucas Digne’s cross.
At the other end, Alejandro Garnacho hit a shot from a tight angle that Martínez did well to hold.
An injured Harry Maguire was brought off alongside Noussair Mazraoui ahead of the restart, and like in the first half, Rashford unleashed an early strike with Martínez tipping it onto the crossbar and over on this occasion.
After Matty Cash fired harmlessly off-target, André Onana was called into action by Tielemans’ strike before Ollie Watkins hit a speculative shot marginally over. Bruno Fernandes came desperately close to providing the opener the match was crying out for, guiding his free-kick onto the crossbar before Antony missed the target with his follow-up.
Even Jhon Durán couldn’t offer any late magic and Diogo Dalot made a vital block to deny Philogene late on before Rogers dinked a shot wide, as Villa made it eight consecutive matches unbeaten across all competitions - even if they had to settle for a draw in back-to-back PL matches.
The Villans also left Man United winless in their last five, with four of those games ending level.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jonny Evans (Manchester United)
