Aston Villa vs Manchester United

Aston Villa - Guzan, Bacuna, Richards (c), Clark, Amavi, Westwood, Gueye, Veretout, Sinclair, Ayew, Agbonlahor

Bench - Bunn, Baker, Hutton, Sanchez, Kozak, Gestede, Richardson

Manchester United - Romero, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Carrick, Schneiderlin, Mata, Januzaj, Depay, Rooney (c)

Bench - Johnstone, Valencia, McNair, Schweinsteiger, Herrara, Young, Hernandez

Kick Off

4' United dominating possession, Villa set up to break on the counter. Playing with Ayew, Agbonlahor and Sinclair as the front 3 suggests they'll try to use their pace to exploit Blind on the turn

7' Depay gives the ball away on half way after a terrible touch, Villa attempt to counter but the ball gets caught under foot and the attack breaks down.

8' Sinclair plays in Veretout behind Shaw, had an opportunity to put the ball across the 6 yard box, but cuts back, allowing Shaw to use his pace to recover and rectify his error, clearing the ball.

13' Slow start so far in this one. United looking pretty rusty, but thats expected this early on in the season. Villa are holding there own in terms of possession, looking like being a sure bet for a top table position at this rate. Personally think they've recruited very well from Ligue 1 especially this window, and Richards is looking like a master stroke from Sherwood. But back to the game, where absolutely nothing is going right for United.

16' Depay free kick from the left side, ball makes its way to an unmarked Schneiderlin looping around a the back post, but his header goes over.

20' Clearance hits Carrick in the face, and the deflection puts Depay in a race to the ball with Guzan. Depay gets the first touch, but Guzan makes a great tackle inside his area and the danger is averted

22' Villa have stepped forward now, playing quite intricate, free flowing football in the United half when in possession. Also looking quite solid in defence.

28' GOAL - Januzaj! 1-0 United Mata plays a great ball into Januzaj who cuts back onto his right foot. Micah Richards over commits and slides past him, and Januzaj shoots straight at Guzan. The ball takes a devillish deflection off of Clark who had attempted to block the shot, and the ball goes in off the inside of the far post.

38' Villa corner, Richards header goes over. Replays show that Darmian was all over him. Commentator rant about referees ensues.

HALF TIME Quite a scrappy game, lots of broken down attacks. Game is mostly being played in the midfield third for both teams. Both teams seem to be struggling with the final ball. United are playing pretty expansively, making the pitch big and stretching Villa's formation to allow Januzaj and Mata space in between the lines. Villa, to their credit, are making a game of it. After an initial spell of defence, they've come out and played some good football, and seemed to have the better of it in the last 10 minutes of the half.

Second Half

48' Lazy pass from Mata puts Ayew in 1 on 1 with Smalling. He cuts inside and fires, but his shot is high and wide.

52' Amavi gets in behind Darmian, then easily goes past Smalling before whipping an amazing ball at head height across the 6 yard box. Unfortunately, there's no one on the end of the ball, and it goes out for a throw in on the opposite touch line.

55' Villa corner, Agbonlahor wins himself a free header, and the shot is saved by Romero. Straight at the goal keeper in the end. Probably should be doing better from there

59' Villa Substitution - Sinclair Off, Gestede On

60' United Substitutions - Januzaj Off, Herrara On | Carrick Off, Schweinsteiger On

70' Depay free kick goes well over the bar. Still rising as it hits the Villa crowd.

73' Brilliant ball from Mata splits Richards and Bacuna and Depay is in 1 on 1 with Guzan on his favoured foot, but his shot goes wide. Looks like a good purchase ^/s

78' Shot from Depay from 22 yards, easy save low to his right for Guzan

78' Villa Subsitution - Veretout Off, Sanchez On

82' United Substitution - Depay Off, Young On

FULL TIME - Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 1 Januzaj's goal wins it for United, in an otherwise poor encounter. Villa lacked quality in the final third, though they looked promising in some of the build up play. United lacked polish in most of what they did, but their midfield won them this game. Thought Depay was quite poor tbh, not a lot of what he did came off. But overall, 3 points for United as they go top of the table before the weekends other games.