Manchester United moves to within two points of Newcastle after 1-0 win over Aston Villa

After a narrow victory over Villa, United moved within two points of third-placed Newcastle.

United returned to winning ways in the English Premier League with a 1-0 win over Villa on Sunday afternoon, making it 15 games unbeaten at home in the league and taking a significant step towards Champions League qualifying.

Bruno Fernandes scored the game-winning goal in the first half after Emi Martinez blocked Marcus Rashford’s strike.

After a narrow victory over Villa, United moved within two points of third-placed Newcastle. Moreno hammered a close-range shot towards goal for the visitors, but De Gea was there to make the save.

Before Fernandes broke the tie, Casemiro crashed the bar. Rashford raced onto Casemiro’s header over the top of the Villa defence, but his shot was blocked. Fernandes, on the other hand, was there to get the rebound. After the break, Villa had multiple chances to equalise.

Luiz was the victim of a bad clearing from Sabitzer, having his first effort inside the box blocked before Lindelof cleared his second attempt off the line. Martial saved Chambers’ last-minute strike after Konsa came in the way of a Mings header.

Only Manchester City has more home wins and points in the Premier League this season than Manchester United, which has 12 wins and 39 points.

Aston Villa failed to score for the first time in Unai Emery’s 21 Premier League games, breaking the league record for the longest consecutive scoring start by a club under a manager.

Since losing 0-1 to Real Sociedad in September, Manchester United has gone undefeated in 26 home games in all competitions (W22 D4).