Manchester United vs Aston Villa

Old Trafford is the venue as Manchester United and Aston Villa go head-to-head in an exciting FA Cup third-round tie.

Wolverhampton Wanderers inflicted the first defeat on Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United side last time out, running out 1-0 victors at Old Trafford. Before Wolves’ success in United’s own backyard, the ‘Red Devils’ were unbeaten in all eight competitive games in the post-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era (W5, D3), finding the back of the net on each occasion. But scoring prowess has been one of the downsides of Rangnick’s brief interim tenure so far, with Man United netting under 1.5 goals in five of their six matches under the German’s stewardship so far. Aston Villa’s visit to the town offers a glorious opportunity to launch a new winning streak, considering that Man United have won ten of their 12 FA Cup encounters against this opposition, including the last six in a row.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa have lost back-to-back Premier League games in the build-up to this fixture by an aggregate score of 5-2 despite taking the lead on each occasion. Interestingly, the ‘Lions’ have yet to draw a match under new boss Steven Gerrard, winning four of their eight outings under the former Liverpool hero while losing the other four. A lack of consistency has seen Villa alternate between victories and defeats across their last five away fixtures (W2, L3), with four of those matches won/lost yielding a single-goal margin. Though it may suggest the Midlanders boast the ability to keep their games competitive, it’s worth noting that they’ve lost their last six FA Cup matches on the trot en route to setting the club’s unwanted record. To their credit, though, Villa outscored Man United 1-0 at this venue earlier this season.