Aston Villa handed Manchester United a first defeat of the season on matchday six of the Premier League by claiming a 1-0 win at Old Trafford, thanks to a late strike from towering defender Kourtney Hause.
After getting bundled out of the Carabao Cup on penalties by Chelsea, Dean Smith’s Aston Villa visited Manchester United in the hopes of putting a dent in their title hopes.
The home side did most of the early probing as they sought to find a way past a disciplined and resilient Villa side. Leading the line for the Red Devils once again was the in-form Cristiano Ronaldo, who, incidentally, had never lost a match against Aston Villa in his career.
The first half only saw three shots on target, two of them from Manchester United and one for Aston Villa. The Red Devils dominated possession but were unable to fashion out good openings in the match. They rarely looked like scoring against Aston Villa’s five-man defence. The home side lost influential left back Luke Shaw to injury in the first half. Captain Harry Maguire was also led away from the pitch on 67 minutes after he picked up an injury.
Aston Villa opened the scoring in dramatic fashion through defender Kourtney Hause on his first Premier League start of the season. The centre back headed a corner from Douglas Luiz past Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea in the 88th minute of the match to give Aston Villa a precious one-goal lead.
Manchester United raised the pressure by a few degrees, and were rewarded with a penalty when Aston Villa goalscorer Hause blocked a header from Edinson Cavani with his arm in the first minute of time added on. Regular penalty taker and stand-in captain Bruno Fernandes stepped up to shoot from 12 yards but ended up blazing his effort over the bar to the disbelief of the home fans.
Aston Villa held on to their one-goal lead to pick up a first victory at Old Trafford since 2009 against one of the title contenders and condemn the Red Devils to consecutive defeats after they lost their midweek Carabao Cup clash against West Ham United. Manchester United have now won only five of their last 11 matches and lost three of their last five matches in all competitions.
