Still feeling down after losing the Europa League final, Manchester United are set to end the 2024–25 season with a Premier League game against top-five chasers Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.
These two sides haven’t met since October last year, when they played out a 0-0 draw at Villa Park.
Match preview
It was all or nothing for Man United on Wednesday night in Bilbao as they faced Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final, but a narrow 1-0 loss means the Red Devils won’t play in the Champions League or any European competition next season—for only the second time in 35 years.
Even though they dominated Spurs for large parts of the match, Man United lacked quality in the final third, which has been a regular issue all season. Their disappointing campaign will now go down as their worst since the 1973–74 season, when they were relegated from the top flight.
Man United have lost a shocking 18 out of 37 Premier League matches this season. Nine of those defeats came at Old Trafford, equalling their worst ever number of home losses in a league season (also nine in 1930–31, 1933–34 and 1962–63). They’ve also collected only 39 points so far—the lowest in their Premier League history—and they are currently sitting in 16th place. Before this, their lowest finish was eighth just last season.
Now fans and media are asking where Man United go from here. Manager Ruben Amorim, who has won just 36.6% of his 41 games in charge in all competitions, said he’ll step down if the board and supporters no longer back him. But he still believes he is the right man to lead the team forward.
Amorim now has the tough job of trying to lift his team’s spirits before their final-day clash with Aston Villa. United haven’t won any of their last eight league games (D2 L6), but they have beaten Villa in three of their last four Premier League meetings and 40 times in total—only against Everton (42 wins) have they managed more.
Villa, on the other hand, did what United couldn’t last time out. They beat Tottenham 2-0 in their last Premier League match, which helped their chances of making it into next season’s Champions League.
Unai Emery’s side are finishing the campaign strongly. They’ve won their last three league games without conceding and nine of their last 11 overall—just one less than the 10 wins United have managed across the entire season. Still, their Champions League hopes are out of their hands going into the final day.
Villa are currently sixth in the table, level on points with Newcastle (fourth) and Chelsea (fifth), but behind both on goal difference. They need to do better than at least one of those two sides to sneak into the top five. If both the Magpies and Blues win, Villa will then have to hope Man City lose at Fulham, since City sit two points ahead of them in third.
Emery says he and his players feel “very excited and 100% motivated” for the challenge at Old Trafford. No matter the result on Sunday, the Spaniard says he’s proud of his squad’s growth and happy they’ve at least secured some form of European football next season.
Villa have won only one of their last 26 away games on the final day of the league season (D7 L18), but they’ve collected eight points from their last seven Premier League matches against United (W2 D2 L3), which should give them confidence before Sunday’s meeting.
Team News:
Man United are still without Lisandro Martinez, who remains out with a knee problem. Fellow centre-back Matthijs de Ligt is a doubt as he’s missed the last four games due to a knee injury as well.
Leny Yoro, Diogo Dalot, Joshua Zirkzee and Jonny Evans returned from injury in time for the Europa League final and could feature again this weekend.
Amorim might change things up, and players like Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho—who might leave the club this summer—are all pushing to be in the starting eleven.
For Aston Villa, Marcus Rashford is unavailable due to a hamstring injury and also can’t play against his parent club. Midfielder Youri Tielemans, Villa’s Player of the Year, missed the last two games with a calf injury and is a big doubt for Sunday.
However, Jacob Ramsey is back from a one-match suspension and could replace either John McGinn or Marco Asensio in the starting lineup.
Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa are expected to stay in the back four, but Emery has to choose between keeping Pau Torres and Ian Maatsen at centre-back and left-back, or bringing in Tyrone Mings and Lucas Digne instead. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who might leave for Saudi Arabia, looks set to start in what could be his last game for Villa.
Manchester United possible starting lineup:
Onana; Lindelof, Maguire, Yoro; Mazraoui, Ugarte, Fernandes, Casemiro, Dorgu; Diallo, Garnacho; Zirkzee
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Onana; Rogers, Asensio, McGinn; Watkins
We say: Manchester United 0-2 Aston Villa
Man United will want to avoid ending their season with another defeat, but it’s hard to see Amorim getting much fight out of his players after such a tough week. The game means nothing for them but everything for Aston Villa, who must get three points.
Villa have won four of their last five away games in the league without letting in a goal, and they’ll feel confident they can do the same again on Sunday. Whether that’s enough to make the top five will depend on results elsewhere.
