Aston Villa vs Man Utd: Match Preview | Confirmed Team News | Expected Line-ups

Fresh from their victory in the Europa League semi-finals, Manchester United return to Premier League duty on Sunday, making the journey to Villa Park where they will face Aston Villa.

United are likely to be full of energy and excitement following their impressive 8-5 aggregate win over Roma and subsequent place in the Europa League final. Aston Villa will have had a full week’s rest since their 2-1 win over Everton and should therefore be fresh to face Man Utd.

United are unbeaten in their last 21 away games against Aston Villa and in their last 44 meetings, Villa have only been able to pick up three points on one occasion, drawing 11 and losing 32.

Team News

Man United will still be without striker Anthony Martial and defender Phil Jones. Dan James also remains a doubt.

Both Victor Lindelof and Scott McTominay were given a rest on Thursday evening, therefore it would not be a surprise to see both players starting on Sunday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will also have to take into account the fact that United now have three Premier League games in five days due to the rescheduling of the Liverpool game. This may result in the squad being heavily rotated over the three games.

Aston Villa will still be without Jack Grealish who has been out since the middle of February with a shin injury. Also out is Trezeguet and Morgan Sanson who are both still recovering from knee injuries.

Expected XIs

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett; Luiz, McGinn; El-Ghazi, Barkley, Traore; Watkins. 

Man Utd (4-2-3-1): Henderson; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Fred; Pogba, Fernandes, Rashford; Greenwood.

Even after David de Gea’s man of the match performance against Roma on Thursday, Dean Henderson is likely to return in goal as United’s Premier League goalie. Although, there is a chance that de Gea may feature in one of the upcoming three games due to rotation.

At the back, Victor Lindelof is likely to come in for Eric Bailly. Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were both taken off at half-time on Thursday, most likely with the intentions of keeping them fit for Sunday’s game against Aston Villa.

Scott McTominay will come back into the starting line-up, most probably to replace Donny van de Beek who played a rare 90 minutes on Thursday. Fred will most likely keep his place in the starting line-up to partner the Scotsman.

Paul Pogba was substituted off during the second half of Thursday’s game, which is likely to have been done with the upcoming fixtures in mind. On Sunday, he may get the chance to return to his current preferred position on the left wing, with Bruno Fernandes in the middle and Marcus Rashford playing off the right.

Up front, Mason Greenwood may be given the nod ahead of Edinson Cavani who has played a full 90 minutes in the last two games, therefore earning himself a well-deserved rest.