Unai Emery's Villa reigns gets off to a flying with win over United

Eric Ten Hag was left frustrated after his team's limp performance at Villa Park on Sunday where United lost to Aston Villa 3-1. (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong for Manchester United at Villa Park on Sunday and it was much to the delight of the hosts and the debutant coach Unai Emery.

It was the 10^th anniversary of Manchester United’s comeback win over Villa on same ground when Javier Hernandez struck late to overturn a 2-0 halftime deficit but it wasn’t to be on Sunday as Villa indeed raced into a 2-0 lead.

Leon Bailley fired one past David De Gea very early into the game and Lucas Digne doubled the lead just five minutes later. The United defense was all over the place and the midfield sorely missed Bruno Fernandes who was serving a one-match ban.

United managed to half the deficit before halftime through a badly deflected Luke Shaw strike and it was duly credited as a Jacob Ramsey own goal. United finished the half strongly and Villa had Emi Martinez to thank for going into the break with their lead intact.

There was however nothing to worry about in the second half for the hosts as Ramsey made immediate amends at the other end on resumption. Neat interchange through the highly effective Ollie Watkins set the youngster up and he fired a beauty past De Gea to restore Villa’s two-goal lead.

United huffed and puffed throughout the game without being able to do anything of note. VAR inquests would be questioned as Lisandro Martinez was pictured elbowing Bailley twice right in front of the linesman with nothing given.

Cristiano Ronaldo captained the United side but he was not able to add much bite upfront. The introduction of Anthony Elanga and Anthony Martial helped galvanize things but Villa stood firm to hand Unai Emery his first win at the very first attempt.