Manchester United, with Cristiano Ronaldo as their starter, forgot the ‘return’ with a disastrous start, losing in the visit to Aston Villa (3-1), in Unai Emery’s debut game for the Birmingham team.
Erik Ten Hag showed once again at Villapark that he had made ‘peace’ with the Portuguese international and gave him the title, only for the fourth time this season in the ‘Premier’, with Cristiano Ronaldo from the start. , as well as Diogo Dalot.
Bruno Fernandes was ruled out, with the Portuguese midfielder serving a suspension after seeing the fifth yellow card in the previous round.
The ‘red devils’, who came out of a nine lossless streak between the championship and the Europa League, had a nightmarish start in Birmingham, with the side losing 2-0 in the 11th minute.
Leon Bailey, in the seventh minute, and Lucas Digne, in the 11th minute, put Aston Villa ahead, with a dream entry for Spanish coach Unai Emery, who replaced sacked Steven Gerrard.
Just before half-time, an own goal by Jacob Ramsey, in an involuntary deflection of a shot by Luque Shaw, revived United’s hopes (2-1), but just after the restart, the same Ramsey scored the home side’s third.
The defeat put Manchester United in fifth place, still outside the ‘Champions’ zone, two points behind Tottenham (fourth), who face Liverpool (10th) this Sunday.
In third place is Newcastle, with one game remaining, beating Southampton (18th) 4-1 today, while Crystal Palace (ninth) also won away from home in this 15th round, at home to West Ham (15th), 2 – 1.
The 15th round of the championship, led by Arsenal after beating Chelsea 1-0 today, will conclude with the ‘big’ game between Tottenham and Liverpool to be played later this afternoon.
Source: DN
