Manchester United 3-1 ASton Villa

Wayne Rooney was on target with a stunning strike
and Ander Herrera scored twice as in-form
Manchester United beat Premier League struggler
Aston Villa 3-1 to move above neighbor
Manchester City into third place.
Midfielder Herrera fired home with his left foot just
before the break at Old Trafford on Saturday to
put Louis van Gaal's side on course for a fifth
consecutive top-flight win.
Rooney then doubled United's lead with a sublime
finish before Herrera added his second goal in
stoppage time to seal victory after Christian
Benteke had given Villa brief hope immediately
after Rooney's stunner.
The home side was a deserved winner and is now
a point above City — which plays Crystal Palace on
Monday — ahead of next Sunday's derby with the
champions and a clash with first-place Chelsea
the following weekend.
Defeat for Villa leaves it without a victory over
United in its last 12 attempts and Tim Sherwood's
side is now just three points ahead of third-bottom
QPR, which beat West Brom on Saturday and
travels to Villa Park on Tuesday.
Van Gaal made only one change to his starting
lineup, with Marcos Rojo replacing Chris Smalling
at the heart of the United defense. On-loan Tom
Cleverley was ineligible to face his parent club, so
Carlos Sanchez came into the Villa side. Matt
Lowton and Andreas Weimann replaced Leandro
Bacuna and Scott Sinclair.
United made a blistering start and Rooney was
furious with referee Roger East for failing to award
an early penalty when he appeared to be brought
down by Ciaran Clark.
Villa was struggling to live with the home side's
intensity and Juan Mata's goal-bound shot was
well blocked by Clark after Ashley Young had

tormented his former club with a great run down
the left.
Rojo almost marked his recall with a goal 23
minutes in, but the Argentina international's long-
range strike was brilliantly tipped over the
crossbar by the agile Brad Guzan.
Villa defended resolutely, but it came as no
surprise when it fell behind two minutes before
halftime courtesy of a well-worked goal from
Herrera.
The Spanish midfielder was left unmarked in the
penalty area and punished Villa by drilling into the
far corner with his left foot after Daley Blind had
cut the ball back from the end line.
Marouane Fellaini ought to have doubled United's
lead just after the hour mark, but the unmarked
Belgium midfielder headed the ball down into the
ground and Guzan palmed the effort behind.
Rooney did give the Red Devils breathing room 11
minutes from time, though, sticking out his left leg
to control substitute Angel di Maria's cross before
swiveling to fire into the top corner of the net with
his right boot.
United had barely finished celebrating when it was
caught napping on a corner and Benteke fired
under David de Gea, who will not want to see a
replay of his attempted save.
But any hopes of Villa snatching a point were
ended when Herrera swept a shot home from the
edge of the area after fellow Spaniard Mata had
spotted his surging run in stoppage time